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THE  NEXT 
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CARL  W  ACKERM  AN 


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GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 
CARL  W.  ACKERMAN 


The  title  "GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC?"  is 
chosen  because  the  author  believes  this  must  be 
the  goal,  the  battlecry,  of  the  United  States  and 
her  Allies.  As  long  as  the  Kaiser,  his  generals 
and  the  present  leaders  are  in  control  of  Ger- 
many's destinies  the  world  will  encounter  the  same 
terrorism  that  it  has  had  to  bear  during  the  war. 
Permanent  peace  will  follow  the  establishment  of 
a  Republic.  But  the  German  people  will  not  over- 
throw the  present  government  until  the  leaders  are 
defeated  and  discredited.  Today  the  Reichstag 
Constitutional  committee,  headed  by  Herr  Scheide- 
mann,  is  preparing  reforms  in  the  organic  law  but 
so  far  all  proposals  are  mere  makeshifts.  The 
world  cannot  afford  to  consider  peace  with  Ger- 
many until  the  people  rule.  The  sooner  the  United 
States  and  her  Allies  tell  this  to  the  German 
people  officially  the  sooner  we  shall  have  peace. 


IN    CONGRESS.   JULY  4.  \77ff   . 


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^i~  SM/Mu...y  t/i.*jfr~  A~  ,Zf.^~u!.~  iU~S. 
^gi^»,,i/.^Ji<^-rt,xio^^~./.^* 


A  DOCUMENT  CIRCULATED  BY  "THE  LEAGUE  OF  TRUTH" — 
THE  RED_,  BLOODY  HAND  ON  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDE- 
PENDENCE 


GERMANY, 

THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 


CARL  W.  ACKERMAN 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


o 


A3- 


COPYRIGHT,  1917, 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


PREFACE 

I  was  at  the  White  House  on  the  29th  of  June, 
1914,  when  the  newspapers  reported  the  assassi- 
nation of  the  Archduke  and  Archduchess  of  Aus- 
tria. In  August,  when  the  first  declarations  of 
war  were  received,  I  was  assigned  by  the  United 
Press  Associations  to  "cover"  the  belligerent  em- 
bassies and  I  met  daily  the  British,  French,  Bel- 
gian, Italian,  German,  Austro-Hungarian,  Turk- 
ish and  Japanese  diplomats.  When  President 
Wilson  went  to  New  York,  to  Eome,  Georgia,  to 
Philadephia  and  other  cities  after  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  I  accompanied  him  as  one  of  the  Wash- 
ington correspondents.  On  these  journeys  and  in 
Washington  I  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  the 
President,  to  study  his  methods  and  ideas,  and  to 
hear  the  comment  of  the  European  ambassadors. 

When  the  von  Tirpitz  blockade  of  England  was 
announced  in  February,  1915,  I  was  asked  to  go 
to  London  where  I  remained  only  one  month. 
From  March,  1915,  until  the  break  in  diplomatic 
relations  I  was  the  war  correspondent  for  the 
United  Press  within  the  Central  Powers.  In  Ber- 
lin, Vienna  and  Budapest,  I  met  the  highest  gov- 
ernment officials,  leading  business  men  and  finan- 


vi  PREFACE 

ciers.  I  knew  Secretaries  of  State  Von  Jagow 
and  Zimmermann ;  General  von  Kluck,  who  drove 
the  German  first  army  against  Paris  in  August, 
1914;  General  von  Falkenhayn,  former  Chief  of 
the  General  Staff;  Philip  Scheidemann,  leader  of 
the  Eeichstag  Socialists ;  Count  Stefan  Tisza,  Min- 
ister President  of  Hungary  and  Count  Albert 
Apponyi. 

While  my  headquarters  were  in  Berlin,  I  made 
frequent  journeys  to  the  front  in  Belgium,  France, 
Poland,  Russia  and  Roumania.  Ten  times  I  was 
on  the  battlefields  during  important  military  en- 
gagements. Verdun,  the  Somme  battlefield,  Gen- 
eral Brusiloff ' s  offensive  against  Austria  and  the 
invasion  of  Roumania,  I  saw  almost  as  well  as  a 
soldier. 

After  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  the  be- 
ginning of  critical  relations  with  the  United  States 
I  was  in  constant  touch  with  James  W.  Gerard, 
the  American  Ambassador,  and  the  Foreign  Office. 
I  followed  closely  the  effects  of  American  political 
intervention  until  February  10th,  1917.  Frequent 
visits  to  Holland  and  Denmark  gave  me  the  im- 
pressions of  these  countries  regarding  President 
Wilson  and  the  United  States.  En  route  to  Wash- 
ington with  Ambassador  Gerard,  I  met  in  Berne, 
Paris  and  Madrid,  officials  and  people  who  inter- 
preted the  affairs  in  these  countries. 

So,  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  today,  I 
have  been  at  the  strategic  points  as  our  relations 
with  Germany  developed  and  came  to  a  climax. 


PREFACE  vii 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  I  was  sympathetic 
with  Germany,  but  my  sympathy  changed  to  dis- 
gust as  I  watched  developments  in  Berlin  change 
the  German  people  from  world  citizens  to  narrow- 
minded,  deceitful  tools  of  a  ruthless  government. 
I  saw  Germany  outlaw  herself.  I  saw  the  effects 
of  President  Wilson's  notes.  I  saw  the  anti- 
American  propaganda  begin.  I  saw  the  Germany 
of  1915  disappear.  I  saw  the  birth  of  lawless 
Germany. 

In  this  book  I  shall  try  to  take  the  reader  from 
Washington  to  Berlin  and  back  again,  to  show  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  our  diplomatic  relations 
with  the  German  government.  I  believe  that  the 
United  States  by  two  years  of  patience  and  note- 
writing,  has  done  more  to  accomplish  the  destruc- 
tion of  militarism  and  to  encourage  freedom  of 
thought  in  Germany  than  the  Allies  did  during 
nearly  three  years  of  fighting.  The  United  States 
helped  the  German  people  think  for  themselves, 
but  being  children  in  international  affairs,  the  peo- 
ple soon  accepted  the  inspired  thinking  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Instead  of  forcing  their  opinions  upon 
the  rulers  until  results  were  evident,  they  chose 
to  follow  with  blind  faith  their  military  gods. 

The  United  States  is  now  at  war  with  Germany 
because  the  Imperial  Government  willed  it.  The 
United  States  is  at  war  to  aid  the  movement  for 
democracy  in  Germany;  to  help  the  German  peo- 
ple realize  that  they  must  think  for  themselves. 
The  seeds  of  democratic  thought  which  Wilson's 


viii  PREFACE 

notes  sowed  in  Germany  are  growing.  If  the  Im- 
perial Government  had  not  frightened  the  people 
into  a  belief  that  too  much  thinking  would  be  dan- 
gerous for  the  Fatherland,  the  United  States 
would  not  today  be  at  war  with  the  Kaiser's  gov- 
ernment. Only  one  thing  now  will  make  the  people 
realize  that  they  must  think  for  themselves  if  they 
wish  to  exist  as  a  nation  and  as  a  race.  That  is  a 
military  defeat,  a  defeat  on  the  battlefields  of  the 
Kaiser,  von  Hindenburg  and  the  Rhine  Valley 
ammunition  interests.  Only  a  decisive  defeat  will 
shake  the  public  confidence  in  the  nation's  leaders. 
Only  a  destroyed  German  army  leadership  will 
make  the  people  overthrow  the  group  of  men  who 
do  Germany's  political  thinking  to-day. 

C.  W.  A. 
New  York,  May,  1917. 


"Abraham  Lincoln  said  that  this  Re- 
public could  not  exist  half  slave  and  half 
free.  Now,  with  similar  clarity,  we  per- 
ceive that  the  world  cannot  exist  half 
German  and  half  free.  We  have  to  put 
an  end  to  the  bloody  doctrine  of  the  su- 
perior race — to  that  anarchy  which  is 
expressed  in  the  conviction  that  German 
necessity  is  above  all  law.  We  have  to 
put  an  end  to  the  German  idea  of  ruth- 
lessness.  We  have  to  put  an  end  to  the 
doctrine  that  it  is  right  to  make  every 
use  of  power  that  is  possible,  without  re- 
gard to  any  restriction  of  justice,  of 
honour,  of  humanity. ' ' 

New  York  Tribune, 
April  7,  1917. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE     v 

CHAPTER 

I.    MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION    ...  17 

II.     "PIRATES  SINK  ANOTHER  NEUTRAL  SHIP"  .  36 

III.  THE  GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       .  56 

IV.  THE  HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA      .  73 

V.    THE  DOWNFALL  OF  VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON 

FALKENHAYN 97 

VI.    THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION  .     .     .  122 

VII.    THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO  .     .     .  150 

VIII.    THE  PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12ra  .      .  169 

IX.     THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS      ....  191 

X.    THE  OUTLAWED  NATION 218 

XI.    THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR       ....  238 

XII.    PRESIDENT  WILSON 267 

APPENDIX 291 


XI 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  DOCUMENT  CIRCULATED  BY  "THE  LEAGUE  OF 
TRUTH" — THE  RED  BLOODY  HAND  ON  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  .  .  .  Frontispiece 

PAGE 

FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  PASSPORT  ....      26 

A  "BERLIN"  EXTRA 44 

BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS 75 

FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE  MAGAZINE  "LIGHT  AND  TRUTH"  80 
AN  ANTI-AMERICAN  PROPAGANDA  DOCUMENT  .  .  85 
GOTT  STRAFE  ENGLAND ,  124 

THIS  Is  THE  PHOTOGRAPH  OF  VON  HINDENBURG 
WHICH  EVERY  GERMAN  HAS  IN  His  HOME  .  .  140 

THE  FOOD  SITUATION  AT  A  GLANCE 149 

THE  POPE  TO  PRESIDENT  WILSON — "How  CAN  MY 
PEACE  ANGEL  FLY,  MR.  PRESIDENT,  WHEN  You 
ALWAYS  PUT  SHELLS  IN  HER  POCKETS?"  .  .  .  172 

"Goo  WILL  NOT  PERMIT  THE  GERMAN  PEOPLE  TO 
Go  DOWN" 183 

THE  NEW  WEATHER  CAPE 196 

CHART  SHOWING  TONNAGE  OF  SHIPS  SUNK  BY  GER- 
MAN SUBMARINES  FROM  REAR  ADMIRAL  HOLL- 

WEG'SBOOK 202 

xiii 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

AN  ADVERTISEMENT  IN  THE  BERLIN  "DEUTSCHE 
TAGES-ZEITUNG "  FOR  THE  BOOK — "PRESIDENT 
BLUFF"  MEANING  PRESIDENT  WILSON  .  .  .  220 

THE  KAISER'S  NEW  YEAR  ORDER  TO  THE  ARMY  AND 
NAVY 239 

SCHWAB  TO  MR.  WILSON — "FOR  HEAVEN'S  SAKE, 
GREAT  LITTLE  LEADER,  THE  WHOLE  PLACE  WILL 
BLOW  UP  IF  You  SMOKE  HERE!" 248 

"THE  NEW  OLD  PRESIDENT.  LONG  LIVE  AMERICA! 
LONG  LIVE  PEACE  !  LONG  LIVE  THE  AMMUNITION 
FACTORIES!" 260 

THE  WILSON  WILL 269 

THE  AUTHOR'S  CARD  OF  ADMISSION  TO  THE  REICHS- 
TAG ON  APRIL  5TH,  1916 274 

AMBASSADOR  GERARD  ARRIVING  IN  PARIS     .     .     .     282 
A  POST-CARD  FROM  GENERAL  VON  KLUCK  288 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC  ? 


GERMANY,    THE   NEXT 
REPUBLIC? 

CHAPTER  I 

MOBILIZATION   OF   PUBLIC   OPINION 


THE  Haupttelegraphenamt  (the  Chief  Tele- 
graph Office)  in  Berlin  is  the  centre  of  the 
entire  telegraph  system  of  Germany.  It  is 
a  large,  brick  building  in  the  Franzoesischestrasse 
guarded,  day  and  night,  by  soldiers.  The  side- 
walks outside  the  building  are  barricaded.  With- 
out a  pass  no  one  can  enter.  Foreign  correspond- 
ents in  Berlin,  when  they  had  telegrams  to  send 
to  their  newspapers,  frequently  took  them  from 
the  Foreign  Office  to  the  Chief  Telegraph  Office 
personally  in  order  to  speed  them  on  their  way 
to  the  outside  world.  The  censored  despatches 
were  sealed  in  a  Foreign  Office  envelope.  With 
this  credential  correspondents  were  permitted  to 
enter  the  building  and  the  room  where  all  tele- 
grams are  passed  by  the  military  authorities. 

During  my  two  years'  stay  in  Berlin  I  went  to 
the  telegraph   office  several  times  every  week. 

17 


18       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Often  I  had  to  wait  while  the  military  censor  read 
my  despatches.  On  a  large  bulletin  board  in  this 
room,  I  saw,  and  often  read,  documents  posted 
for  the  information  of  the  telegraph  officials. 
During  one  of  my  first  waiting  periods  I  read  an 
original  document  relating  to  the  events  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  This  was  a  typewritten 
letter  signed  by  the  Director  of  the  Post  and 
Telegraph.  Because  I  was  always  watched  by  a 
soldier  escort,  I  could  never  copy  it.  But  after 
reading  it  scores  of  times  I  soon  memorised  every- 
thing, including  the  periods. 
This  document  was  as  follows: 

Office  of  the  Imperial  Post  &  Telegraph 

August  2nd,  1914. 

Announcement  No.  3. 
To  the  Chief  Telegraph  Office : 

From  to-day  on,  the  Post  and  Telegraph  com- 
munications between  Germany  on  the  one  hand 
and: 

1.  England, 

2.  France, 

3.  Eussia, 

4.  Japan, 

5.  Belgium, 

6.  Italy, 

7.  Montenegro, 

8.  Servia, 

9.  Portugal; 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       19 

on  the  other  hand  are  interrupted  because  Ger- 
many finds  herself  in  a  state  of  war. 
(Signed)  Director  of  the  Post  and  Telegraph. 

This,  notice,  which  was  never  published,  shows 
that  the  man  who  directed  the  Post  and  Tele- 
graph Service  of  the  Imperial  Government  knew 
on  the  2nd  of  August,  1914,  who  Germany's  ene- 
mies would  be.  Of  the  eleven  enemies  of  Ger- 
many to-day  only  Boumania  and  the  United 
States  were  not  included.  If  the  Director  of  the 
Post  and  Telegraph  knew  what  to  expect,  it  is 
certain  that  the  Imperial  Government  knew.  This 
announcement  shows  that  Germany  expected  war 
with  nine  different  nations,  but  at  the  time  it  was 
posted  on  the  bulletin  board  of  the  Haupttele- 
graphenamt,  neither  Italy,  Japan,  Belgium  nor 
Portugal  had  declared  war.  Italy  did  not  declare 
war  until  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  afterwards, 
Portugal  nearly  two  years  afterward  and  Japan 
not  until  December,  1914. 

This  document  throws  an  interesting  light  upon 
the  preparations  Germany  made  for  a  world  war. 

The  White,  Yellow,  Grey  and  Blue  Books,  which 
all  of  the  belligerents  published  after  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  dealt  only  with  the  attempts  of 
these  nations  to  prevent  the  war.  None  of  the 
nations  has  as  yet  published  white  books  to  show 
how  it  prepared  for  war,  and  still,  every  nation 
in  Europe  had  been  expecting  and  preparing  for 
a  European  conflagration.  Winston  Churchill, 


20       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

when  he  was  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  stated 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  England's  fleet 
was  mobilised.  France  had  contributed  millions 
of  francs  to  fortify  the  Russian  border  in  Poland, 
although  Germany  had  made  most  of  the  guns. 
Belgium  had  what  the  Kaiser  called,  "a  con- 
temptible little  army"  but  the  soldiers  knew  how 
to  fight  when  the  invaders  came.  Germany  had 
new  42  cm.  guns  and  a  network  of  railroads  which 
operated  like  shuttles  between  the  Russian  and 
French  and  Belgian  frontiers.  Ever  since  1870 
Europe  had  been  talking  war.  Children  were 
brought  up  and  educated  into  the  belief  that  some 
day  war  would  come.  Most  people  considered  it 
inevitable,  although  not  every  one  wanted  it. 

During  the  exciting  days  of  August,  1914, 1  was 
calling  at  the  belligerent  embassies  and  legations 
in  Washington.  Neither  M.  Jusserand,  the  French 
Ambassador,  nor  Sir  Cecil  Spring-Rice,  the  Brit- 
ish Ambassador,  nor  Count  von  Bernstorff,  the 
Kaiser's  representative,  were  in  Washington 
then.  But  it  was  not  many  weeks  until  all  three 
had  hastened  to  this  country  from  Europe.  Al- 
most the  first  act  of  the  belligerents  was  to  send 
their  envoys  to  Washington. 

As  I  met  these  men  I  was  in  a  sense  an  agent 
of  public  opinion  who  called  each  day  to  report 
the  opinions  of  the  belligerents  to  the  readers  of 
American  newspapers.  One  day  at  the  British 
Embassy  I  was  given  copies  of  the  White  Book 
and  of  many  other  documents  which  Great  Britain 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       21 

had  issued  to  show  how  she  tried  to  avoid  the 
war.  In  conversations  later  with  Ambassador  von 
Bernstorff,  I  was  given  the  German  viewpoint. 

The  thing  which  impressed  me  at  the  time  was 
the  desire  of  these  officials  to  get  their  opinions 
before  the  American  people.  But  why  did  these 
ambassadors  want  the  standpoints  of  their  gov- 
ernments understood  over  here?  Why  was  the 
United  States  singled  out  of  all  other  neutrals? 
If  all  the  belligerents  really  wanted  to  avoid  war, 
why  did  they  not  begin  twenty  years  before,  to 
prevent  it,  instead  of,  to  prepare  for  it? 

All  the  powers  issued  their  official  documents 
for  one  primary  purpose — to  win  public  opinion. 
First,  it  was  necessary  for  each  country  to  con- 
vince its  own  people  that  their  country  was  being 
attacked  and  that  their  leaders  had  done  every- 
thing possible  to  avoid  war.  Even  in  Europe  peo- 
ple would  not  fight  without  a  reason.  The  German 
Government  told  the  people  that  unless  the  army 
was  mobilised  immediately  Russia  would  invade 
and  seize  East  Prussia.  England,  France  and  Bel- 
gium explained  to  their  people  that  Germany  was 
out  to  conquer  the  world  by  way  of  Belgium  and 
France.  But  White  Books  were  not  circulated 
alone  in  Europe ;  they  were  sent  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  into  the  United  States  and  trans- 
lated into  every  known  language  so  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  whole  world  could  read  them. 

Then  the  word  battles  between  the  Allies  and 
the  Central  Powers  began  in  the  United  States. 


22       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

While  the  soldiers  fought  on  the  battlefields  of 
Belgium,  France,  East  Prussia  and  Poland,  an 
equally  bitter  struggle  was  carried  on  in  the 
United  States.  In  Europe  the  object  was  to  stop 
the  invaders.  In  America  the  goal  was  public 
opinion. 

It  was  not  until  several  months  after  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  that  Sir  Edward  Grey  and 
Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  began  to  dis- 
cuss what  the  two  countries  had  done  before  the 
war,  to  avoid  it.  The  only  thing  either  nation 
could  refer  to  was  the  1912  Conference  between 
Lord  Haldane  and  the  Chancellor.  This  was  the 
only  real  attempt  made  by  the  two  leading  bel- 
ligerents to  come  to  an  understanding  to  avoid 
inevitable  bloodshed.  Discussions  of  these  con- 
ferences were  soon  hushed  up  in  Europe  because 
of  the  bitterness  of  the  people  against  each  other. 
The  Hymn  of  Hate  had  stirred  the  German  peo- 
ple and  the  Zeppelin  raids  were  beginning  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  determination  in  the  hearts  of  the 
British.  It  was  too  late  to  talk  about  why  the 
war  was  not  prevented.  So  each  set  of  belliger- 
ents had  to  rely  upon  the  official  documents  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  to  show  what  was  done  to 
avoid  it. 

These  White  Books  were  written  to  win  public 
opinion.  But  why  were  the  people  suddenly  taken 
into  the  confidence  of  their  governments?  Why 
had  the  governments  of  England,  France,  Ger- 
many and  Russia  not  been  so  frank  before  1914? 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       23 

Why  had  they  all  been  interested  in  making  the 
people  speculate  as  to  what  would  come,  and  how 
it  would  come  about!  Why  were  all  the  nations 
encouraging  suspicion!  Why  did  they  always 
question  the  motives,  as  well  as  the  acts,  of  each 
other!  Is  it  possible  that  the  world  progressed 
faster  than  the  governments  and  that  the  gov- 
ernments suddenly  realised  that  public  opinion 
was  the  biggest  factor  in  the  world!  Each  one 
knew  that  a  war  could  not  be  waged  without  pub- 
lic support  and  each  one  knew  that  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  outside  world  depended  more  upon 
public  opinion  than  upon  business  or  military  re- 
lations. 

n 

How  America  Was  Shocked  by  the  War 

Previous  to  July,  1914,  the  American  people 
had  thought  very  little  about  a  European  war. 
While  the  war  parties  and  financiers  of  Europe 
had  been  preparing  a  long  time  for  the  conflict, 
people  over  here  had  been  thinking  about  peace. 
Americans  discussed  more  of  the  possibilities  of 
international  peace  and  arbitration  than  war. 
Europeans  lived  through  nothing  except  an  ex- 
pectancy of  war.  Even  the  people  knew  who  the 
enemies  might  be.  The  German  government,  as 
the  announcement  of  the  Post  and  Telegraph  Di- 
rector shows,  knew  nine  of  its  possible  enemies 
before  war  had  been  declared.  So  it  was  but  nat- 


24      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ural,  when  the  first  reports  reached  the  United 
States  saying  that  the  greatest  powers  of  Europe 
were  engaged  in  a  death  struggle,  that  people 
were  shocked  and  horrified.  And  it  was  but  nat- 
ural for  thousands  of  them  to  besiege  President 
Wilson  with  requests  for  him  to  offer  his  services 
as  a  mediator. 

The  war  came,  too,  during  the  holiday  season  in 
Europe.  Over  90,000  Americans  were  in  the  war 
zones.  The  State  Department  was  flooded  with 
telegrams.  Senators  and  Congressmen  were 
urged  to  use  their  influence  to  get  money  to 
stranded  Americans  to  help  them  home.  The  235 
U.  S.  diplomatic  and  consular  representatives 
were  asked  to  locate  Americans  and  see  to  their 
comfort  and  safety.  Not  until  Americans  real- 
ised how  closely  they  were  related  to  Europe  could 
they  picture  themselves  as  having  a  direct  in- 
terest in  the  war.  Then  the  stock  market  began 
to  tumble.  The  New  York  Stock  Exchange  was 
closed.  South  America  asked  New  York  for  credit 
and  supplies,  and  neutral  Europe,  as  well  as 
China  in  the  Far  East,  looked  to  the  United  States 
to  keep  the  war  within  bounds.  Uncle  Sam  be- 
came the  Atlas  of  the  world  and  nearly  every  bel- 
ligerent requested  this  government  to  take  over 
its  diplomatic  and  consular  interests  in  enemy 
countries.  Diplomacy,  commerce,  finance  and 
shipping  suddenly  became  dependent  upon  this 
country.  Not  only  the  belligerents  but  the  neu- 
trals sought  the  leadership  of  a  nation  which 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       25 

could  look  after  all  the  interests,  except  those  of 
purely  military  and  naval  operations.  The  eyes 
of  the  world  centred  upon  Washington.  Presi- 
dent Wilson,  as  the  official  head  of  the  govern- 
ment, was  signalled  out  as  the  one  man  to  help 
them  in  their  suffering  and  to  listen  to  their  ap- 
peals. The  belligerent  governments  addressed 
their  protests  and  their  notes  to  Wilson.  Belgium 
sent  a  special  commission  to  gain  the  President's 
ear.  The  peace  friends  throughout  the  world, 
even  those  in  the  belligerent  countries,  looked  to 
Wilson  for  guidance  and  help. 

In  August,  1914,  Mrs.  Woodrow  Wilson,  the 
President's  wife,  was  dangerously  ill.  I  was  at 
the  White  House  every  day  to  report  the  devel- 
opments there  for  the  United  Press.  On  the  eve- 
ning of  the  5th  of  August  Secretary  Tumulty 
called  the  correspondents  and  told  them  that  the 
President,  who  was  deeply  distressed  by  the  war, 
and  who  was  suffering  personally  because  of  his 
wife's  illness,  had  written  at  his  wife's  bedside 
the  following  message : 

"As  official  head  of  one  of  the  powers  signa- 
tory to  The  Hague  Convention,  I  feel  it  to  be  my 
privilege  and  my  duty,  under  Article  III  of  that 
Convention,  to  say  to  you  in  the  spirit  of  most 
earnest  friendship  that  I  should  welcome  an  op- 
portunity to  act  in  the  interests  of  European 
peace,  either  now  or  at  any  other  time  that  might 
be  thought  more  suitable,  as  an  occasion  to  serve 


26      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

you  and  all  concerned  in  a  way  that  would  afford 
me  lasting  cause  for  gratitude  and  happiness. 
' '  ( Signed )  WOODEO w  WILSON.  ' ' 

The  President's  Secretary  cabled  this  to  the 
Emperors  of  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary ;  the 
King  of  England,  the  Czar  of  Russia  and  the 
President  of  France.  The  President's  brief  note 
touched  the  chord  of  sympathy  of  the  whole 
world;  but  it  was  too  late  then  to  stop  the  war. 
European  statesmen  had  been  preparing  for  a 
conflict.  With  the  public  support  which  each  na- 
tion had,  each  government  wanted  to  fight  until 
there  was  a  victory. 

One  of  the  first  things  which  seemed  to  appeal 
to  President  Wilson  was  the  fact  that  not  only 
public  opinion  of  Europe,  but  of  America,  sought 
a  spokesman.  Unlike  Roosevelt,  who  led  public 
opinion,  unlike  Taft,  who  disregarded  it,  Wilson 
took  the  attitude  that  the  greatest  force  in  the 
world  was  public  opinion.  He  believed  public 
opinion  was  greater  than  the  presidency.  He  felt 
that  he  was  the  man  the  American  people  had 
chosen  to  interpret  and  express  their  opinion. 
Wilson's  policy  was  to  permit  public  opinion  to 
rule  America.  Those  of  us  who  spent  two  years 
in  Germany  could  see  this  very  clearly. 

The  President  announced  the  plank  for  his  in- 
ternational policy  when  he  spoke  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  at 
Washington,  shortly  after  the  war  began. 


FIRST    PAGE  OF   THE   AUTHOR'S    PASSPORT 


.       MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       27 

"  The  opinion  of  the  world  is  the  mistress  of  the 
world/'  he  said,  "and  the  processes  of  interna- 
tional law  are  the  slow  processes  by  which  opinion 
works  its  will.  What  impresses  me  is  the  con- 
stant thought  that  that  is  the  tribunal  at  the  bar 
of  which  we  all  sit.  I  would  call  your  attention, 
incidentally,  to  the  circumstance  that  it  does  not 
observe  the  ordinary  rules  of  evidence ;  which  has 
sometimes  suggested  to  me  that  the  ordinary  rules 
of  evidence  had  shown  some  signs  of  growing  an- 
tique. Everything,  rumour  included,  is  heard  in 
this  court,  and  the  standard  of  judgment  is  not 
so  much  the  character  of  the  testimony  as  the 
character  of  the  witness.  The  motives  are  dis- 
closed, the  purposes  are  conjectured  and  that 
opinion  is  finally  accepted  which  seems  to  be,  not 
the  best  founded  in  law,  perhaps,  but  the  best 
founded  in  integrity  of  character  and  of  morals. 
That  is  the  process  which  is  slowly  working  its 
will  upon  the  world;  and  what  we  should  be 
watchful  of  is  not  so  much  jealous  interests  as 
sound  principles  of  action.  The  disinterested 
course  is  not  alone  the  biggest  course  to  pursue; 
but  it  is  in  the  long  run  the  most  profitable  course 
to  pursue.  If  you  can  establish  your  character 
you  can  establish  your  credit. 

''Understand  me,  gentlemen,  I  am  not  ventur- 
ing in  this  presence  to  impeach  the  law.  For  the 
present,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  I  am  in 
part  the  embodiment  of  the  law  and  it  would  be 
very  awkward  to  disavow  myself.  But  I  do  wish 


28      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

to  make  this  intimation,  that  in  this  time  of  world 
change,  in  this  time  when  we  are  going  to  find  out 
just  how,  in  what  particulars,  and  to  what  extent 
the  real  facts  of  human  life  and  the  real  moral 
judgments  of  mankind  prevail,  it  is  worth  while 
looking  inside  our  municipal  law  and  seeing 
whether  the  judgments  of  the  law  are  made  square 
with  the  moral  judgments  of  mankind.  For  I  be- 
lieve that  we  are  custodians  of  the  spirit  of  right- 
eousness, of  the  spirit  of  equal  handed  justice, 
of  the  spirit  of  hope  which  believes  in  the  perfecti- 
bility of  the  law  with  the  perfectibility  of  human 
life  itself. 

"Public  life,  like  private  life,  would  be  very 
dull  and  dry  if  it  were  not  for  this  belief  in  the 
essential  beauty  of  the  human  spirit  and  the  be- 
lief that  the  human  spirit  should  be  translated 
into  action  and  into  ordinance.  Not  entire.  You 
cannot  go  any  faster  than  you  can  advance  the 
average  moral  judgment  of  the  mass,  but  you  can 
go  at  least  as  fast  as  that,  and  you  can  see  to  it 
that  you  do  not  lag  behind  the  average  moral 
judgments  of  the  mass.  I  have  in  my  life  dealt 
with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  I  have 
found  that  the  flame  of  moral  judgment  burns 
just  as  bright  in  the  man  of  humble  life  and  lim- 
ited experience  as  in  the  scholar  and  man  of  af- 
fairs. And  I  would  like  his  voice  always  to  be 
heard,  not  as  a  witness,  not  as  speaking  in  his 
own  case,  but  as  if  he  were  the  voice  of  men  in 
general,  in  our  courts  of  justice,  as  well  as  the 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       29 

voice  of  the  lawyers,  remembering  what  the  law 
has  been.  My  hope  is  that,  being  stirred  to  the 
depths  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the 
time  in  which  we  live,  we  may  recover  from  those 
steps  something  of  a  renewal  of  that  vision  of  the 
law  with  which  men  may  be  supposed  to  have 
started  out  in  the  old  days  of  the  oracles,  who 
commune  with  the  intimations  of  divinity." 

Before  this  war,  very  few  nations  paid  any  at- 
tention to  public  opinion.  France  was  probably 
the  beginner.  Some  twenty  years  before  1914, 
France  began  to  extend  her  civilisation  to  Russia, 
Italy,  the  Balkans  and  Syria.  In  Roumania,  to- 
day, one  hears  almost  as  much  French  as  Rou- 
manian spoken.  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  lawyers 
in  Bucharest  were  educated  in  Paris.  Most  of 
the  doctors  in  Roumania  studied  in  France. 
France  spread  her  influence  by  education. 

The  very  fact  that  the  belligerents  tried  to  mob- 
ilise public  opinion  in  the  United  States  in  their 
favour  shows  that  1914  was  a  milestone  in  interna- 
tional affairs.  This  was  the  first  time  any  foreign 
power  ever  attempted  to  fight  for  the  good  will 
—the  public  opinion — of  this  nation.  The  govern- 
ments themselves  realised  the  value  of  public 
opinion  in  their  own  boundaries,  but  when  the 
war  began  they  realised  that  it  was  a  power  in- 
side the  realms  of  their  neighbours,  too. 

When  differences  of  opinion  developed  between 
the  United  States  and  the  belligerents  the  first 
thing  President  Wilson  did  was  to  publish  all  the 


documents  and  papers  in  the  possession  of  the 
American  government  relating  to  the  controversy. 
The  publicity  which  the  President  gave  the  dip- 
lomatic correspondence  between  this  government 
and  Great  Britain  over  the  search  and  seizure 
of  vessels  emphasised  in  Washington  this  ten- 
dency in  our  foreign  relations.  At  the  beginning 
of  England's  seizure  of  American  merchantmen 
carrying  cargoes  to  neutral  European  countries, 
the  State  Department  lodged  individual  protests, 
but  no  heed  was  paid  to  them  by  the  London  offi- 
cials. Then  the  United  States  made  public  the 
negotiations  seeking  to  accomplish  by  publicity 
what  a  previous  exchange  of  diplomatic  notes 
failed  to  do. 

Discussing  this  action  of  the  President  in  an 
editorial  on  "Diplomacy  in  the  Dark,"  the  New 
York  World  said: 

"President  Wilson's  protest  to  the  British 
Government  is  a  clear,  temperate,  courteous  as- 
sertion of  the  trade  rights  of  neutral  countries  in 
time  of  war.  It  represents  not  only  the  estab- 
lished policy  of  the  United  States  but  the  estab- 
lished policy  of  Great  Britain.  It  voices  the  opin- 
ion of  practically  all  the  American  people,  and 
there  are  few  Englishmen,  even  in  time  of  war, 
who  will  take  issue  with  the  principles  upheld  by 
the  President.  Yet  a  serious  misunderstanding 
was  risked  because  it  is  the  habit  of  diplomacy 
to  operate  in  the  dark. 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       31 

11  Fortunately,  President  Wilson  by  making  the 
note  public  prevented  the  original  misunderstand- 
ing from  spreading.  But  the  lesson  ought  not 
to  stop  there.  Our  State  Department,  as  Mr. 
Wickersham  recently  pointed  out  in  a  letter  to 
the  World,  has  never  had  a  settled  policy  of  pub- 
licity in  regard  to  our  diplomatic  affairs.  No 
Blue  Books  or  White  Books  are  ever  issued. 
What  information  the  country  obtains  must  be 
pried  out  of  the  Department.  This  has  been  our 
diplomatic  policy  for  more  than  a  century,  and 
it  is  a  policy  that  if  continued  will  some  day  end 
disastrously." 

Speaking  in  Atlanta  in  1912,  President  Wilson 
stated  that  this  government  would  never  gain  an- 
other foot  of  territory  by  conquest.  This  dispelled 
whatever  apprehension  there  was  that  the  United 
States  might  seek  to  annex  Mexico.  Later,  in  ask- 
ing Congress  to  repeal  the  Panama  Tolls  Act  of 
1912,  the  President  said  the  good  will  of  Europe 
was  a  more  valuable  asset  than  commercial  ad- 
vantages gained  by  discriminatory  legislation. 

Thus  at  the  outset  of  President  Wilson's  first 
administration,  foreign  powers  were  given  to  un- 
derstand that  Mr.  Wilson  believed  in  the  power 
of  public  opinion ;  that  he  favoured  publicity  as  a 
means  of  accomplishing  what  could  not  be  done 
by  confidential  negotiations;  that  he  did  not  be- 
lieve in  annexation  and  that  he  was  ready  at  any 
time  to  help  end  the  war. 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 


in 


President  "Wilson's  policy  during  the  first  six 
months  of  the  war  was  one  of  impartiality  and 
neutrality.  The  first  diplomatic  representative 
in  Washington  to  question  the  sincerity  of  the 
executive  was  Dr.  Constantine  Dumba,  the  exiled 
Austro-Hungarian  Ambassador,  who  was  sent  to 
the  United  States  because  he  was  not  a  noble, 
and,  therefore,  better  able  to  understand  and  in- 
terpret American  ways!  He  asked  me  one  day 
whether  I  thought  Wilson  was  neutral.  He  said 
he  had  been  told  the  President  was  pro-English. 
He  believed,  he  said,  that  everything  the  Presi- 
dent had  done  so  far  showed  he  sympathised 
with  the  Entente.  While  we  were  talking  I  re- 
called what  the  President's  stenographer,  Charles 
L.  Swem,  said  one  day  when  we  were  going  to 
New  York  with  the  President. 

"I  am  present  at  every  conference  the  Presi- 
dent holds,"  he  stated.  "I  take  all  his  dictation. 
I  think  he  is  the  most  neutral  man  in  America.  I 
have  never  heard  him  express  an  opinion  one  way 
or  the  other,  and  if  he  had  I  would  surely  know 
of  it." 

I  told  Dr.  Dumba  this  story,  which  interested 
him,  and  he  made  no  comments. 

As  I  was  at  the  White  House  nearly  every  day 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  what  the  President 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       33 

would  say  to  callers  and  friends,  although  I  was 
seldom  privileged  to  use  the  information.  Even 
now  I  do  not  recall  a  single  statement  which  ever 
gave  me  the  impression  that  the  President  sided 
with  one  group  of  belligerents. 

The  President's  sincerity  and  firm  desire  for 
neutrality  was  emphasised  in  his  appeal  to  "My 
Countrymen." 

"The  people  of  the  United  States,"  he  said, 
"are  drawn  from  many  nations,  and  chiefly  from 
the  nations  now  at  war.  It  is  natural  and  inevi- 
table that  there  should  be  the  utmost  variety  of 
sympathy  and  desire  among  them  with  regard  to- 
the  issues  and  circumstances  of  the  conflict.  Some 
will  wish  one  nation,  others  another,  to  succeed 
in  the  momentous  struggle.  It  will  be  easy  to  ex- 
cite passion  and  difficult  to  allay  it.  Those  re- 
sponsible for  exciting  it  will  assume  a  heavy  re- 
sponsibility, responsibility  for  no  less  a  thing  than 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States,  whose  love 
of  their  country  and  whose  loyalty  to  the  gov- 
ernment should  unite  them  as  Americans  all, 
bound  in  honour  and  affection  to  think  first  of 
her  and  her  interests,  may  be  divided  in  camps  of 
hostile  opinion,  hot  against  each  other,  involved 
in  the  war  itself  in  impulse  and  opinion,  if  not  in 
action. 

"My  thought  is  of  America.  I  am  speaking,  I 
feel  sure,  the  earnest  wish  and  purpose  of  every 
thoughtful  American  that  this  great  country 
of  ours,  which  is  of  course  the  first  in  our 


34       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

thoughts  and  in  our  hearts,  should  show  herself 
in  this  time  of  peculiar  trial  a  nation  fit  beyond 
others  to  exhibit  the  fine  poise  of  undisturbed 
judgment,  the  dignity  of  self-control,  the  efficiency 
of  dispassionate  action ;  a  nation  that  neither  sits 
in  judgment  upon  others  nor  is  disturbed  in  her 
own  counsels  and  which  keeps  herself  fit  and  free 
to  do  what  is  honest  and  disinterested  and  truly 
serviceable  for  the  peace  of  the  world.*' 

Many  Americans  believed  even  early  in  the 
war  that  the  United  States  should  have  protested 
against  the  invasion  of  Belgium.  Others  thought 
the  government  should  prohibit  the  shipments  of 
war  supplies  to  the  belligerents.  America  was 
divided  by  the  great  issues  in  Europe,  but  the 
great  majority  of  Americans  believed  with  the 
President,  that  the  best  service  Uncle  Sam  could 
render  would  be  to  help  bring  about  peace. 

Until  February,  1915,  when  the  von  Tirpitz  sub- 
marine blockade  of  England  was  proclaimed,  only 
American  interests,  not  American  lives,  had  been 
drawn  into  the  war.  But  when  the  German  Ad- 
miralty announced  that  neutral  as  well  as  bellig- 
erent ships  in  British  waters  would  be  sunk  with- 
out warning,  there  was  a  new  and  unexpected  ob- 
stacle to  neutrality.  The  high  seas  were  as  much 
American  as  British.  The  oceans  were  no  na- 
tion's property  and  they  could  not  justly  be  used 
as  battlegrounds  for  ruthless  warfare  by  either 
belligerent. 

Germany,  therefore,  was  the  first  to  challenge 


MOBILIZATION  OF  PUBLIC  OPINION       35 

American  neutrality.  Germany  was  the  first  to 
threaten  American  lives.  Germany,  which  was 
the  first  to  show  contempt  for  Wilson,  forced  the 
President,  as  well  as  the  people,  to  alter  policies 
and  adapt  American  neutrality  to  a  new  and 
grave  danger. 


CHAPTER  II 

"PIRATES  SINK  ANOTHER  NEUTRAL  SHIP" 

ON  February  4th,  1915,  the  Reichsanzeiger, 
the  official  newspaper  of  Germany,  pub- 
lished an  announcement  declaring  that 
from  the  18th  of  February  "all  the  waters  sur- 
rounding Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as  well  as  the 
entire  English  channel  are  hereby  declared  to  be 
a  war  area.  All  ships  of  the  enemy  mercantile 
marine  found  in  these  waters  will  be  destroyed 
and  it  will  not  always  be  possible  to  avoid  danger 
to  the  crews  and  passengers  thereon. 

"Neutral  shipping  is  also  in  danger  in  the  war 
area,  as  owing  to  the  secret  order  issued  by  the 
British  Admiralty  January  31st,  1915,  regarding 
the  misuse  of  neutral  flags,  and  the  chances  of  na- 
val warfare,  it  can  happen  that  attacks  directed 
against  enemy  ships  may  damage  neutral  vessels. 

"The  shipping  route  around  the  north  of  The 
Shetlands  in  the  east  of  the  North  Sea  and  over 
a  distance  of  thirty  miles  along  the  coast  of  The 
Netherlands  will  not  be  dangerous." 

Although  the  announcement  was  signed  by  Ad- 
miral von  Pohl,  Chief  of  the  Admiralty  Staff,  the 
real  author  of  the  blockade  was  Grand  Admiral 

36 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         37 

von  Tirpitz.  In  explanation  of  the  announcement 
the  Teutonic-Allied,  neutral  and  hostile  powers 
were  sent  a  memorandum  which  contained  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph : 

"The  German  Government  announces  its  inten- 
tion in  good  time  so  that  hostile  as  well  as  neutral 
ships  can  take  necessary  precautions  accordingly. 
Germany  expects  that  the  neutral  powers  will 
show  the  same  consideration  for  Germany's  vital 
interests  as  for  those  of  England,  and  will  aid 
in  keeping  their  citizens  and  property  from  this 
area.  This  is  the  more  to  be  expected,  as  it  must 
be  to  the  interests  of  the  neutral  powers  to  see 
this  destructive  war  end  as  soon  as  possible. ' ' 

On  February  12th  the  American  Ambassador, 
James  W.  Gerard,  handed  Secretary  of  State  von 
Jagow  a  note  in  which  the  United  States  said : 

' '  This  Government  views  these  possibilities  with 
such  grave  concern  that  it  feels  it  to  be  its  privi- 
lege, and  indeed  its  duty  in  the  circumstances, 
to  request  the  Imperial  German  Government  to 
consider  before  action  is  taken  the  critical  situa- 
tion in  respect  of  the  relations  between  this  coun- 
try and  Germany  which  might  arise  were  the  Ger- 
man naval  officers,  in  carrying  out  the  policy  fore- 
shadowed in  the  Admiralty's  proclamation,  to 
destroy  any  merchant  vessel  of  the  United  States 
or  cause  the  death  of  American  citizens. 


38       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"It  is  of  course  unnecessary  to  remind  the  Ger- 
man Government  that  the  sole  right  of  a  bel- 
ligerent in  dealing  with  neutral  vessels  on  the 
high  seas  is  limited  to  visit  and  search,  unless  a 
blockade  is  proclaimed  and  effectively  maintained, 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does 
not  understand  to  be  proposed  in  this  case.  To 
declare  and  exercise  the  right  to  attack  and  de- 
stroy any  vessel  entering  a  prescribed  area  of  the 
nigh  seas  without  first  accurately  determining 
its  belligerent  nationality  and  the  contraband 
character  of  its  cargo,  would  be  an  act  so  unpre- 
cedented in  naval  warfare  that  this  Government  is 
reluctant  to  believe  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  in  this  case  contemplates  it  as  pos- 
sible." 

I  sailed  from  New  York  February  13th,  1915, 
on  the  first  American  passenger  liner  to  run  the 
von  Tirpitz  blockade.  On  February  20th  we 
passed  Queenstown  and  entered  the  Irish  Sea  at 
night.  Although  it  was  moonlight  and  we  could 
see  for  miles  about  us,  every  light  on  the  ship,  ex- 
cept the  green  and  red  port  and  starboard  lan- 
terns, was  extinguished.  As  we  sailed  across  the 
Irish  Sea,  silently  and  cautiously  as  a  muskrat 
swims  on  a  moonlight  night,  we  received  a  wire- 
less message  that  a  submarine,  operating  off  the 
mouth  of  the  Mersey  River,  had  sunk  an  English 
freighter.  The  captain  was  asked  by  the  British 
Admiralty  to  stop  the  engines  and  await  orders. 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         39 

Within  an  hour  a  patrol  boat  approached  and  es- 
corted us  until  the  pilot  came  aboard  early  the 
next  morning.  No  one  aboard  ship  slept.  Few 
expected  to  reach  Liverpool  alive,  but  the  next 
afternoon  we  were  safe  in  one  of  the  numerous 
snug  wharves  of  that  great  port. 

A  few  days  later  I  arrived  in  London.  As  I 
walked  through  Fleet  street  newsboys  were  hur- 
rying from  the  press  rooms  carrying  orange-col- 
oured placards  with  the  words  in  big  black  type : 
11  Pirates  Sink  Another  Neutral  Ship." 

Until  the  middle  of  March  I  remained  in  Lon- 
don, where  the  wildest  rumours  were  afloat  about 
the  dangers  off  the  coast  of  England,  and  where 
every  one  was  excited  and  expectant  over  the  re- 
ports that  Germany  was  starving.  I  was  urged 
by  friends  and  physicians  not  to  go  to  Germany 
because  it  was  universally  believed  in  Great  Brit- 
ain that  the  war  would  be  over  in  a  very  short 
time.  On  the  15th  of  March  I  crossed  from  Til- 
bury to  Rotterdam.  At  Tilbury  I  saw  pontoon 
bridges  across  the  Thames,  patrol  boats  and  sub- 
marine chasers  rushing  back  and  forth  watching 
for  U-boats,  which  might  attempt  to  come  up  the 
river.  I  boarded  the  Batavia  IV  late  at  night  and 
left  Gravesend  at  daylight  the  next  morning  for 
Holland.  Every  one  was  on  deck  looking  for  sub- 
marines and  mines.  The  channel  that  day  was  as 
smooth  as  a  small  lake,  but  the  terrible  expecta- 
tion that  submarines  might  sight  the  Dutch  ship 


40       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

made  every  passenger  feel  that  the  submarine 
war  was  as  real  as  it  was  horrible. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  arriving  at  the  little 
German  border  town  of  Bentheim,  I  met  for  the 
first  time  the  people  who  were  already  branded 
as  "Huns  and  Barbarians"  by  the  British  and 
French.  Officers  and  people,  however,  were  not 
what  they  had  been  pictured  to  be.  Neither  was 
Germany  starving.  The  officials  and  inspectors 
were  courteous  and  patient  and  permitted  me  to 
take  into  Germany  not  only  British  newspapers, 
but  placards  which  pictured  the  Germans  as  pi- 
rates. Two  days  later,  while  walking  down  Un- 
ter  den  Linden,  poor  old  women,  who  were  al- 
ready taking  the  places  of  newsboys,  sold  Ger- 
man extras  with  streaming  headlines:  "British 
Ships  Sunk.  Submarine  War  Successful."  In 
front  of  the  Lokal  Anzeiger  building  stood  a  large 
crowd  reading  the  bulletins  about  the  progress 
of  the  von  Tirpitz  blockade. 

For  luncheon  that  day  I  had  the  choice  of  as 
many  foods  as  I  had  had  in  London.  The  only 
thing  missing  was  white  bread,  for  Germany,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  permitted  only  Kriegs- 
brot  (war  bread)  to  be  baked. 

All  Berlin  streets  were  crowded  and  busy. 
Military  automobiles,  auto-trucks,  big  moving 
vans,  private  automobiles,  taxi-cabs  and  carriages 
hurried  hither  and  thither.  Soldiers  and  officers, 
seemingly  by  the  thousands,  were  parading  up 
and  down.  Stores  were  busy.  Berlin  appeared 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         41 

to  be  as  normal  as  any  other  capital.  Even  the 
confidence  of  Germany  in  victory  impressed  me 
so  that  in  one  of  my  first  despatches  I  said : 

"Germany  to-day  is  more  confident  than  ever 
that  all  efforts  of  her  enemies  to  crush  her  must 
prove  in  vain.  With  a  threefold  offensive,  in 
Flanders,  in  Galicia  and  in  northwest  Russia,  be- 
ing successfully  prosecuted,  there  was  a  spirit  of 
enthusiasm  displayed  here  in  both  military  and 
civilian  circles  that  exceeded  even  the  stirring 
days  immediately  following  the  outbreak  of  the 
war. 

' 'Flags  are  flying  everywhere  to-day;  the  Im- 
perial standards  of  Germany  and  Austria  pre- 
dominate, although  there  is  a  goodly  showing  of 
the  Turkish  Crescent.  Bands  are  playing  as  regi- 
ment after  regiment  passes  through  the  city  to  en- 
train for  the  front.  Through  Wilhelmstrasse  the 
soldiers  moved,  their  hats  and  guns  decorated 
with  fragrant  flowers  and  with  mothers,  sisters 
and  sweethearts  clinging  to  and  encouraging 
them." 

A  few  weeks  before  I  arrived  the  Germans 
were  excited  over  the  shipment  of  arms  and  am- 
munitions from  the  United  States  to  the  Allies, 
but  by  the  time  I  was  in  Berlin  the  situation 
seemed  to  have  changed.  On  April  4th  I  tele- 
graphed-the  following  despatch  which  appeared 
in  the  Evening  Sun,  New  York: 


42       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"The  spirit  of  animosity  towards  Americans 
which  swept  Germany  a  few  weeks  ago  seems  to 
have  disappeared.  The  1,400  Americans  in  Ber- 
lin and  those  in  the  smaller  cities  of  Germany  have 
little  cause  to  complain  of  discourteous  treatment. 
Americans  just  arriving  in  Berlin  in  particular 
comment  upon  the  friendliness  of  their  reception. 
The  Germans  have  been  especially  courteous,  they 
declare,  on  learning  of  their  nationality.  Feel- 
ing against  the  United  States  for  permitting  arms 
to  be  shipped  to  the  Allies  still  exists,  but  I  have 
not  found  this  feeling  extensive  among  the  Ger- 
mans. Two  American  doctors  studying  in  Ger- 
man clinics  declare  that  the  wounded  soldiers  al- 
ways talk  about  "Amerikanische  keugel"  (Amer- 
ican bullets),  but  it  is  my  observation  that  the 
persons  most  outspoken  against  the  sale  of  am- 
munition to  the  Allies  by  American  manufactur- 
ers are  the  American  residents  of  Berlin." 

Two  weeks  later  the  situation  had  changed  con- 
siderably. On  the  24th  I  telegraphed :  '  *  Despite 
the  bitter  criticism  of  the  United  States  by  Ger- 
man newspapers  for  refusing  to  end  the  traffic  in 
munitions,  it  is  semi-officially  explained  that  this 
does  not  represent  the  real  views  of  the  German 
Government.  The  censor  has  been  instructed  to 
permit  the  newspapers  to  express  themselves 
frankly  on  this  subject  and  on  Secretary  Bryan's 
reply  to  the  von  Bernstorff  note,  but  it  has  been 
emphasised  that  their  views  reflect  popular  opin- 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         43 

ion  and  the  editorial  side  of  the  matter  and  not 
the  Government. 

"The  Lokal  Anzeiger,  following  up  its  attack 
of  yesterday,  to-day  says : 

"  'The  answer  of  the  United  States  is  no  sur- 
prise to  Germany  and  naturally  it  fails  to  con- 
vince Germany  that  a  flourishing  trade  in  muni- 
tions of  war  is  in  accord  with  strict  neutrality. 
The  German  argument  was  based  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  international  law,  but  the  American  re- 
ply was  based  upon  the  commercial  advantages 
enjoyed  by  the  ammunition  shippers.'  ' 

April  24th  was  von  Tirpitz  day.  It  was  the 
anniversary  of  the  entrance  of  the  Grand  Ad- 
miral in  the  German  Navy  fifty  years  before,  and 
the  eighteenth  anniversary  of  his  debut  in  the 
cabinet,  a  record  for  a  German  Minister  of  Ma- 
rine. There  was  tremendous  rejoicing  through- 
out the  country,  and  the  Admiral,  who  spent  his 
Prussian  birthday  at  the  Navy  Department,  was 
overwhelmed  with  congratulations.  Headed  by 
the  Kaiser,  telegrams  came  from  every  official  in 
Germany.  The  press  paid  high  tribute  to  his 
blockade,  declaring  that  it  was  due  to  him  alone 
that  England  was  so  terror-stricken  by  subma- 
rines. 

I  was  not  in  Germany  very  long  until  I  was 
impressed  by  the  remarkable  control  the  Gov- 
ernment had  on  public  opinion  by  censorship  of 
the  press.  People  believe,  without  exception, 
everything  they  read  in  the  newspapers.  And  I 


44       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

soon  discovered  that  the  censor  was  so  accus- 
tomed to  dealing  with  German  editors  that  he  ap- 
plied the  same  standards  to  the  foreign  corre- 
spondents. A  reporter  could  telegraph  not  what 
he  observed  and  heard,  but  what  the  censors  de- 
sired American  readers  to  hear  and  know  about 
Germany. 

I  was  in  St.  Quentin,  France  (which  the  Ger- 
mans on  their  1917  withdrawal  set  on  fire)  at  the 
headquarters  of  General  von  Below,  when  news 
came  May  8th  that  the  Lusitania  was  torpedoed. 
I  read  the  bulletins  as  they  arrived.  I  heard  the 
comments  of  the  Germans  who  were  waging  war 
in  an  enemy  country.  I  listened  as  they  spoke  of 
the  loss  of  American  and  other  women  and  chil- 
dren. I  was  amazed  when  I  heard  them  say  that 
a  woman  had  no  more  right  on  the  Lusitania  than 
she  would  have  on  an  ammunition  wagon  on  the 
Somme.  The  day  before  I  was  in  the  first  line 
trenches  on  the  German  front  which  crossed  the 
road  running  from  Peronne  to  Albert.  At  that 
time  this  battlefield,  which  a  year  and  a  half  later 
was  destined  to  be  the  scene  of  the  greatest 
slaughter  in  history,  was  as  quiet  and  beautiful 
as  this  picturesque  country  of  northern  France 
was  in  peace  times.  Only  a  few  trenches  and 
barbed  wire  entanglements  marred  the  scene. 

On  May  9th  I  left  St.  Quentin  for  Brussels. 
Here  I  was  permitted  by  the  General  Government 
to  send  a  despatch  reflecting  the  views  of  the 
German  army  in  France  about  the  sinking  of  the 


33latt 


I  c  [eg  rap^  i(*c    DI  e  1 1  u  n  q. 

SBten,  3, 

'J(mtltcf)  n)irb  acrfautbart: 

-2ctt   bcutc   3  U()t   80 
oormtttag^    ift    ^i^cmijel    micDcv 
in  unferem 


@teHt)erircter  be§  6^ef§  be8  @encralfta6e§ 
von 


9ittc   Sonbct^Stusgabcn   bed   ^crlinct  Cafal^^lnjeigerd   roerben  narf)   roic  uor  in 

9ln^a()I  W  uncntfldtlid)  "VI  in  unfecen  familicfjcn  WeidiaftoftcIIcn  an  jcbcrmnnn  auc.gcgcbcn. 


A  BERLIN  "EXTRA" 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"        45 

Lusitania.  I  wrote  what  I  thought  was  a  fair 
article.  I  told  how  the  bulletin  was  posted  in 
front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville;  how  the  officers  and 
soldiers  marching  to  and  away  from  the  front 
stopped,  read,  smiled  and  congratulated  each 
other  because  the  Navy  was  at  last  helping  the 
Army '  *  win  the  war. ' '  There  were  no  expressions 
of  regret  over  the  loss  of  life.  These  officers 
and  soldiers  had  seen  so  many  dead,  soldiers  and 
civilians,  men  and  women,  in  Belgium  and  France 
that  neither  death  nor  murder  shocked  them. 

The  telegram  was  approved  by  the  military 
censor  and  forwarded  to  Berlin.  I  stayed  in  Bel- 
gium two  days  longer,  went  to  Louvain  and  Liege 
and  reached  Berlin  May  12th.  The  next  day  I 
learned  at  the  Foreign  Office  that  my  despatch 
was  stopped  because  it  conflicted  with  the  opin- 
ions which  the  German  Government  was  sending 
officially  by  wireless  to  Washington  and  to  the 
American  newspapers.  I  felt  that  this  was  un- 
fair, but  I  was  subject  to  the  censorship  and  had 
no  appeal. 

I  did  not  forget  this  incident  because  it  showed 
a  striking  difference  of  opinion  between  the  army, 
which  was  fighting  for  Germany,  and  the  Foreign 
Office,  which  was  explaining  and  excusing  what 
the  Army  and  Navy  did.  The  Army  always  jus- 
tified the  events  in  Belgium,  but  the  Foreign  Of- 
fice did  not.  And  this  was  the  first  incident  which 
made  me  feel  that  even  in  Germany,  which  was 


46       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

supposed  to  be  united,  there  were  differences  of 
opinion. 

In  September,  1915,  while  the  German  army 
was  moving  against  Russia  like  a  surging  sea,  I 
was  invited  to  go  to  the  front  near  Vilna.  Dur- 
ing the  intervening  months  I  had  observed  and 
recorded  as  much  as  possible  the  growing  indig- 
nation in  Germany  because  the  United  States  per- 
mitted the  shipment  of  arms  and  ammunition  to 
the  Allies.  In  June  I  had  had  an  interview  with 
Secretary  of  State  von  Jagow,  in  which  he  pro- 
tested against  the  attitude  of  the  United  States 
Government  and  said  that  America  was  not  act- 
ing as  neutral  as  Germany  did  during  the  Span- 
ish-American war.  He  cited  page  168  of  Andrew 
D.  White's  book  in  which  Ambassador  White  said 
he  persuaded  Germany  not  to  permit  a  German 
ship  laden  with  ammunition  and  consigned  for 
Spain  to  sail.  I  thought  that  if  Germany  had 
adopted  such  an  attitude  toward  America,  that  in 
justice  to  Germany  Washington  should  adopt  the 
same  position.  After  von  Jagow  gave  me  the 
facts  in  possession  of  the  Foreign  Office  and  after 
he  had  loaned  me  Mr.  White's  book,  I  looked  up 
the  data.  I  found  to  my  astonishment  that  Mr. 
White  reported  to  the  State  Department  that  a 
ship  of  ammunition  sailed  from  Hamburg,  and 
that  he  had  not  protested,  although  the  Naval 
Attache  had  requested  him  to  do  so.  The  state- 
ments of  von  Jagow  and  Mr.  White's  in  his  auto- 
biography did  not  agree  with  the  facts.  Germany 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         47 

did  send  ammunition  to  Spain,  but  Wilhelmstrasse 
was  using  Mr.  White's  book  as  proof  that  the 
Krupp  interests  did  not  supply  our  enemy  in 
1898.  The  latter  part  of  September  I  entered 
Kovno,  the  important  Eussian  fortress,  eight  days 
after  the  army  captured  it.  I  was  escorted,  to- 
gether with  other  foreign  correspondents,  from 
one  fort  to  another  and  shown  what  the  42  cm. 
guns  had  destroyed.  I  saw  400  machine  guns 
which  were  captured  and  1,300  pieces  of  heavy 
artillery.  The  night  before,  at  a  dinner  party, 
the  officers  had  argued  against  the  United  States 
because  of  the  shipment  of  supplies  to  Russia. 
They  said  that  if  the  United  States  had  not  aided 
Russia,  that  country  would  not  have  been  able  to 
resist  the  invaders.  I  did  not  know  the  facts,  but 
I  accepted  their  statements.  When  I  was  shown 
the  machine  guns,  I  examined  them  and  discov- 
ered that  every  one  of  the  400  was  made  at  Essen 
or  Magdeburg,  Germany.  Of  the  1,300  pieces  of 
artillery  every  cannon  was  made  in  Germany  ex- 
cept a  few  English  ship  guns.  Kovno  was  forti- 
fied by  German  artillery,  not  American. 

A  few  days  later  I  entered  Vilna;  this  time  I 
was  moving  with  the  advance  column.  At  dinner 
that  night  with  General  von  Weber,  the  com- 
mander of  the  city,  the  subject  of  American  arms 
and  ammunition  was  again  brought  up.  The  Gen- 
eral said  they  had  captured  from  the  Russians 
an  American  machine  gun.  He  added  that  they 
were  bringing  it  in  from  Smorgon  to  show  the 


48       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Americans.  When  it  reached  us  the  stamp,  writ- 
ten in  English,  showed  that  it  was  manufactured 
by  Vickers  Limited,  England.  Being  unable  to 
read  English,  the  officer  who  reported  the  capture 
thought  the  gun  was  made  in  the  United  States. 

In  Roumania  last  December  I  followed  General 
von  Falkenhayn's  armies  to  the  forts  of  Bucha- 
rest. On  Thanksgiving  Day  I  crossed  by  auto- 
mobile the  Schurduck  Pass.  The  Roumanians 
had  defended,  or  attempted  to  defend,  this  road 
by  mounting  armoured  guns  on  the  crest  of  one 
of  the  mountain  ranges  in  the  Transylvanian 
Alps.  I  examined  a  whole  position  here  and 
found  all  turrets  were  made  in  Germany. 

I  did  not  doubt  that  the  shipment  of  arms  and 
ammunition  to  the  Allies  had  been  a  great  aid  to 
them.  (I  was  told  in  Paris,  later,  on  my  way  to 
the  United  States  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
American  ammunition  factories  France  would 
have  been  defeated  long  ago.)  But  when  Ger- 
many argued  that  the  United  States  was  not  neu- 
tral in  permitting  these  shipments  to  leave  Amer- 
ican ports,  Germany  was  forgetting  what  her  own 
arms  and  munition  factories  had  done  for  Ger- 
many's enemies.  When  the  Krupp  works  sold 
Russia  the  defences  for  Kovno,  the  German  Gov- 
ernment knew  these  weapons  would  be  used 
against  Germany  some  day,  because  no  nation  ex- 
cept Germany  could  attack  Russia  by  way  of  that 
city.  When  Krupps  sold  war  supplies  to  Rou- 
mania, the  German  Government  knew  that  if  Rou- 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         49 

mania  joined  the  Allies  these  supplies  would  be 
used  against  German  soldiers.  But  the  Govern- 
ment was  careful  not  to  report  these  facts  in  Ger- 
man newspapers.  And,  although  Secretary  of 
State  von  Jagow  acknowledged  to  Ambassador 
Gerard  that  there  was  nothing  in  international 
law  to  justify  a  change  in  Washington's  position, 
von  Jagow 's  statements  were  not  permitted  to 
be  published  in  Germany. 

To  understand  Germany's  resentment  over  Mr. 
Wilson's  interference  with  the  submarine  war- 
fare, three  things  must  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion. 

1.  The  Allies'   charge  that  all  Germans   are 
"Huns  and  Barbarians." 

2.  The  battle  of  the  Marne  and  the  shipment  of 
arms  and  ammunition  from  the  United  States. 

3.  The  intrigue  and  widening  breach  between 
the  Army  and  Navy  and  the  Foreign  Office. 


One  weapon  the  Allies  used  against  Germany, 
which  was  more  effective  than  all  others,  was 
the  press.  When  the  English  and  French  indicted 
the  Germans  as  "Barbarians  and  Huns,"  as  "pi- 
rates," and  "uncivilised"  Europeans,  it  cut  the 
Germans  to  the  quick ;  it  affected  men  and  women 
so  terribly  that  Germans  feared  these  attacks 
more  than  they  did  the  combined  military  might 
of  their  enemies.  This  is  readily  understood  when 


50       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

one  realises  that  before  the  war  the  thing  the 
Germans  prided  themselves  on  was  their  com- 
merce and  their  civilisation, — their  Kultur.  Be- 
fore the  war,  the  world  was  told  by  every  German 
what  the  nation  had  done  for  the  poor;  what 
strides  the  scientists  had  made  in  research  work 
and  what  progress  the  business  men  had  made  in 
extending  their  commerce  at  the  expense  of  com- 
petitors. 

While  some  government  officials  foresaw  the 
disaster  which  would  come  to  Germany  if  this  na- 
tional vanity  was  paraded  before  the  whole  world, 
their  advice  and  counsel  were  ignored.  Consul 
General  Kiliani,  the  Chief  German  official  in  Aus- 
tralia before  the  war,  told  me  he  had  reported 
repeatedly  to  the  Foreign  Office  that  German  busi- 
ness men  were  injuring  their  own  opportunities 
by  bragging  so  much  of  what  they  had  done,  and 
what  they  would  do.  He  said  if  it  continued  the 
whole  world  would  be  leagued  against  Germany; 
that  public  opinion  would  be  so  strong  against 
German  goods  that  they  would  lose  their  markets. 
Germany  made  the  whole  world  fear  her  com- 
mercial might  by  this  foolish  bragging. 

So  when  the  war  broke  out  and  Germans  were 
attacked  for  being  uncivilised  in  Belgium,  for 
breaking  treaties  and  for  disregarding  the  opin- 
ion of  the  world,  it  was  but  natural  that  German 
vanity  should  resent  it.  Germans  feared  noth- 
ing but  God  and  public  opinion.  They  had  such 
exalted  faith  in  their  army  they  believed  they 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"        51 

could  gain  by  Might  what  they  had  lost  in  pres- 
tige throughout  the  world.  This  is  one  of  the  rea- 
sons the  German  people  arose  like  one  man  when 
war  was  declared.  They  wished  and  were  ready 
to  show  the  world  that  they  were  the  greatest 
people  ever  created. 


The  German  explanation  of  why  they  lost  the 
battle  of  the  Marne  is  interesting,  not  alone  be- 
cause of  the  explanation  of  the  defeat,  but  because 
it  shows  why  the  shipment  of  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion from  the  United  States  was  such  a  poisonous 
pill  to  the  army.  Shortly  after  my  arrival  in 
Berlin  Dr.  Alfred  Zimmermann,  then  Under  Sec- 
retary of  State,  said  the  greatest  scandal  in  Ger- 
many after  the  war  would  be  the  investigation  of 
the  reasons  for  the  shortage  of  ammunition  in 
September,  1914.  He  did  not  deny  that  Germany 
was  prepared  for  a  great  war.  He  must  have 
known  at  the  time  what  the  Director  of  the  Post 
and  Telegraph  knew  on  the  2nd  of  August,  1914, 
when  he  wrote  Announcement  No.  3.  The  Ger- 
man Army  must  have  known  the  same  thing  and 
if  it  had  prepared  for  war,  as  every  German  ad- 
mits it  had,  then  preparations  were  made  to  fight 
nine  nations.  But  there  was  one  thing  which 
Germany  failed  to  take  into  consideration,  Zim- 
mermann said,  and  that  was  the  shipment  of  sup- 
plies from  the  United  States.  Then,  he  added, 
there  were  two  reasons  why  the  battle  of  the 


52       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Marne  was  lost :  one,  because  there  was  not  suf- 
ficient ammunition ;  and,  two,  because  the  reserves 
were  needed  to  stop  the  Russian  invasion  of  East 
Prussia.  I  asked  him  whether  Germany  did  not 
have  enormous  stores  of  ammunition  on  hand 
when  the  war  began.  He  said  there  was  sufficient 
ammunition  for  a  short  campaign,  but  that  the 
Ministry  of  War  had  not  mobilised  sufficient  am- 
munition factories  to  keep  up  the  supplies.  He 
said  this  was  the  reason  for  the  downfall  of  Gen- 
eral von  Herringen,  who  was  Minister  of  War  at 
the  beginning  of  hostilities. 

After  General  von  Kluck  was  wounded  and  re- 
turned to  his  villa  in  Wilmersdorf,  a  suburb  of 
Berlin,  I  took  a  walk  with  him  in  his  garden  and 
discussed  the  Marne.  He  confirmed  what  Zim- 
mermann  stated  about  the  shortage  of  ammuni- 
tion and  added  that  he  had  to  give  up  his  re- 
serves to  General  von  Hindenburg,  who  had  been 
ordered  by  the  Kaiser  to  drive  the  Russians  from 
East  Prussia. 

in 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  although  no 
intimations  were  permitted  to  reach  the  outside 
world,  there  was  a  bitter  controversy  between  the 
Foreign  Office,  as  headed  by  the  Chancellor  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg ;  the  Navy  Department,  head- 
ed by  Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz,  and  General 
von  Moltke,  Chief  of  the  General  Staff.  The 
Chancellor  delayed  mobilisation  of  the  German 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         53 

Army  three  days.  For  this  he  never  has  and 
never  will  be  forgiven  by  the  military  authorities. 
During  those  stirring  days  of  July  and  August, 
when  General  von  Moltke,  von  Tirpitz,  von  Fal- 
kenhayn,  Krupps  and  the  Rhine  Valley  Industrial 
leaders  were  clamouring  for  war  and  for  an  in- 
vasion of  Belgium,  the  Kaiser  was  being  urged  by 
the  Chancellor  and  the  Foreign  Office  to  heed  the 
proposals  of  Sir  Edward  Grey  for  a  Peace  Con- 
ference. But  the  Kaiser,  who  was  more  of  a  sol- 
dier than  a  statesman,  sided  with  his  military 
friends.  The  war  was  on,  not  only  between  Ger- 
many and  the  Entente,  but  between  the  Foreign 
Office  and  the  Army  and  Navy.  This  internal 
fight  which  began  in  July,  1914,  became  Ger- 
many's bitterest  struggle  and  from  time  to  time 
the  odds  went  from  one  side  to  another.  The 
Army  accused  the  diplomats  of  blundering  in 
starting  the  war.  The  Foreign  Office  replied  that 
it  was  the  lust  for  power  and  victory  which  poi- 
soned the  military  leaders  which  caused  the  war. 
Belgium  was  invaded  against  the  counsel  of  the 
Foreign  Office.  But  when  the  Chancellor  was 
confronted  with  the  actual  invasion  and  the  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty,  he  was  compelled  by  force  of 
circumstance,  by  his  position  and  responsibility 
to  the  Kaiser  to  make  his  famous  speech  in  the 
Reichstag  in  which  he  declared:  " Emergency 
knows  no  law." 

But  when  the  allied  fleet  swept  German  ships 
from  the  high  seas  and  isolated  a  nation  which 


54       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

had  considered  its  international  commerce  one  of 
its  greatest  assets,  considerable  animosity  devel- 
oped between  the  Army  and  Navy.  The  Army  ac- 
cused the  Navy  of  stagnation,  von  Tirpitz,  who 
had  based  his  whole  naval  policy  upon  a  great 
navy,  especially  upon  battleship  and  cruiser 
units,  was  confronted  by  his  military  friends  with 
the  charge  that  he  was  not  prepared.  As  early  as 
1908  von  Tirpitz  had  opposed  the  construction  of 
submarines.  Speaking  in  the  Reichstag  when  na- 
val appropriations  were  debated,  he  said  Germany 
should  rely  upon  a  battleship  fleet  and  not  upon 
submarines.  But  when  he  saw  his  great  inactive 
Navy  in  German  waters,  he  switched  to  the  sub- 
marine idea  of  a  blockade  of  England.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1915,  he  announced  his  submarine  blockade 
of  England  with  the  consent  of  the  Kaiser,  but 
without  the  approval  of  the  Foreign  Office. 

By  this  time  the  cry,  "Gott  strafe  England," 
had  become  the  most  popular  battle  shout  in  Ger- 
many. The  von  Tirpitz  blockade  announcement 
made  this  battlecry  real.  It  made  him  the  na- 
tional hero.  The  German  press,  which  at  that 
time  was  under  three  different  censors,  turned  its 
entire  support  over  night  to  the  von  Tirpitz  plan. 
The  Navy  Department,  which  even  then  was  not 
only  anti-British  but  anti-American,  wanted  to 
sink  every  ship  on  the  high  seas.  When  the 
United  States  lodged  its  protests  on  February 
12th  the  German  Navy  wanted  to  ignore  it.  The 
Foreign  Office  was  inclined  to  listen  to  President 


"PIRATES  SINK  NEUTRAL  SHIP"         55 

Wilson's  arguments.  Even  the  people,  while  they 
were  enthusiastic  for  a  submarine  war,  did  not 
want  to  estrange  America  if  they  could  prevent  it. 
The  von  Tirpitz  press  bureau,  which  knew  that 
public  opposition  to  its  plan  could  be  overcome 
by  raising  the  cry  that  America  was  not  neutral 
in  aiding  the  Allies  with  supplies,  launched  an 
anti-American  campaign.  It  came  to  a  climax 
one  night  when  Ambassador  Gerard  was  attend- 
ing a  theatre  party.  As  he  entered  the  box  he  was 
recognised  by  a  group  of  Germans  who  shouted 
insulting  remarks  because  he  spoke  English. 
Then  some  one  else  remarked  that  America  was 
not  neutral  by  shipping  arms  and  ammunition. 

The  Foreign  Office  apologised  the  next  day  but 
the  Navy  did  not.  And,  instead  of  listening  to  the 
advice  of  Secretary  of  State  von  Jagow,  the  Navy 
sent  columns  of  inspired  articles  to  the  news- 
papers attacking  President  Wilson  and  telling  the 
German  people  that  the  United  States  had  joined 
the  Entente  in  spirit  if  not  in  action. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  GULF   BETWEEN    KIEL  AND   BEKLIN 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  war,  even  the  Socialist 
Party  in  the  Reichstag  voted  the  Govern- 
ment credits.  The  press  and  the  people 
unanimously  supported  the  Government  because 
there  was  a  very  terrorising  fear  that  Russia  was 
about  to  invade  Germany  and  that  England  and 
France  were  leagued  together  to  crush  the  Father- 
land. Until  the  question  of  the  submarine  warfare 
came  up,  the  division  of  opinion  which  had  already 
developed  between  the  Army  and  Navy  clique  and 
the  Foreign  Office  was  not  general  among  the  peo- 
ple. Although  the  army  had  not  taken  Paris,  a 
great  part  of  Belgium  and  eight  provinces  of 
Northern  France  were  occupied  and  the  Russians 
had  been  driven  from  East  Prussia.  The  German 
people  believed  they  were  successful.  The  army 
was  satisfied  with  what  it  had  done  and  had  great 
plans  for  the  future.  Food  and  economic  condi- 
tions had  changed  very  little  as  compared  to  the 
changes  which  were  to  take  place  before  1917. 
Supplies  were  flowing  into  Germany  from  all 
neutral  European  countries.  Even  England  and 
Russia  were  selling  goods  to  Germany  indi- 

56 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       57 

rectly  through  neutral  countries.  Considerable 
English  merchandise,  as  well  as  American  prod- 
ucts, came  in  by  way  of  Holland  because  English 
business  men  were  making  money  by  the  transac- 
tion and  because  the  English  Government  had  not 
yet  discovered  leaks  in  the  blockade.  Two-thirds 
of  the  butter  supply  in  Berlin  was  coming  from 
Russia.  Denmark  was  sending  copper.  Norway 
was  sending  fish  and  valuable  oils.  Sweden 
was  sending  horses  and  cattle.  Italy  was  sending 
fruit.  Spanish  sardines  and  olives  were  reaching 
German  merchants.  There  was  no  reason  to  be 
dissatisfied  with  the  way  the  war  was  going.  And, 
besides,  the  German  people  hated  their  enemies 
so  that  the  leaders  could  count  upon  continued 
support  for  almost  an  indefinite  period.  The  cry 
of  "Hun  and  Barbarian"  was  answered  with  the 
battle  cry  "Gott  strafe  England." 

The  latter  part  of  April  on  my  first  trip  to  the 
front  I  dined  at  Great  Headquarters  (Grosse 
Haupt  Quartier)  in  Charleville,  France,  with 
Major  Nicolai,  Chief  of  the  Intelligence  Depart- 
ment of  the  General  Staff.  The  next  day,  in  com- 
pany with  other  correspondents,  we  were  guests 
of  General  von  Moehl  and  his  staff  at  Peronne. 
From  Peronne  we  went  to  the  Somme  front  to 
St.  Quentin,  to  Namur  and  Brussels.  The  sol- 
diers were  enthusiastic  and  happy.  There  was 
plenty  of  food  and  considerable  optimism.  But 
the  confidence  in  victory  was  never  so  great  as  it 
was  immediately  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 


58       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

tania.  That  marked  the  crisis  in  the  future  trend 
of  the  war. 

Up  to  this  time  the  people  had  heard  very  little 
about  the  fight  between  the  Navy  and  the  Foreign 
Office.  But  gradually  rumours  spread.  While 
there  was  previously  no  outlet  for  public  opinion, 
the  Lusitania  issue  was  debated  more  extensively 
and  with  more  vigour  than  the  White  Books  which 
were  published  to  explain  the  causes  of  the  war. 

With  the  universal  feeling  of  self  confidence, 
it  was  but  natural  that  the  people  should  side  with 
the  Navy  in  demanding  an  unrestricted  submarine 
warfare.  When  Admiral  von  Bachmann  gave  the 
order  to  First  Naval  Lieutenant  Otto  Steinbrink 
to  sink  the  Lusitania,  he  knew  the  Navy  was  ready 
to  defy  the  United  States  or  any  other  country 
which  might  object.  He  knew,  too,  that  von  Tir- 
pitz  was  very  close  to  the  Kaiser  and  could  count 
upon  the  Kaiser's  support  in  whatever  he  did. 
The  Navy  believed  the  torpedoing  of  the  Lusi- 
tania would  so  frighten  and  terrorise  the  world 
that  neutral  shipping  would  become  timid  and 
enemy  peoples  would  be  impressed  by  Germany's 
might  on  the  seas.  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff 
had  been  ordered  by  the  Foreign  Office  to  put 
notices  in  the  American  papers  warning  Amer- 
icans off  these  ships.  The  Chancellor  and  Secre- 
tary von  Jagow  knew  there  was  no  way  to  stop 
the  Admiralty,  and  they  wanted  to  avoid,  if  pos- 
sible, the  loss  of  American  lives. 

The  storm  of  indignation  which  encircled  the 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       59 

globe  when  reports  were  printed  that  over  a  thou- 
sand people  lost  their  lives  on  the  Lusitania, 
found  a  sympathetic  echo  in  the  Berlin  Foreign 
Office.  '  *  Another  navy  blunder, ' '  the  officials  said 
— confidentially.  Foreign  Office  officials  tried  to 
conceal  their  distress  because  the  officials  knew 
the  only  thing  they  could  do  now  was  to  make 
preparation  for  an  apology  and  try  to  excuse  in 
the  best  possible  way  what  the  navy  had  done. 
On  the  17th  of  May  like  a  thunderbolt  from  a  clear 
sky  came  President  Wilson's  first  Lusitania  note. 

"  Recalling  the  humane  and  enlightened  atti- 
tude hitherto  assumed  by  the  Imperial  German 
Government  in  matters  of  international  life,  par- 
ticularly with  regard  to  the  freedom  of  the  seas ; 
having  learned  to  recognise  German  views  and 
German  influence  in  the  field  of  international  ob- 
ligations as  always  engaged  upon  the  side  of  jus- 
tice and  humanity;"  the  note  read,  "and  having 
understood  the  instructions  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  to  its  naval  commanders  to  be 
upon  the  same  plane  of  human  action  as  those* 
prescribed  by  the  naval  codes  of  other  nations, 
the  government  of  the  United  States  is  loath  to 
believe — it  cannot  now  bring  itself  to  believe — 
that  these  acts  so  absolutely  contrary  to  the  rules 
and  practices  and  spirit  of  modern  warfare  could 
have  the  countenance  or  sanction  of  that  great 
government.  .  .  .  Manifestly  submarines  cannot 
be  used  against  merchantmen  as  the  last  few 


60       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

weeks  have  shown  without  an  inevitable  violation 
of  many  sacred  principles  of  justice  and  human- 
ity. American  citizens  act  within  their  indisput- 
able rights  in  taking  their  ships  and  in  travelling 
wherever  their  legitimate  business  calls  them 
upon  the  high  seas,  and  exercise  those  rights  in 
what  should  be  a  well  justified  confidence  that 
their  lives  will  not  be  endangered  by  acts  done 
in  clear  violation  of  universally  acknowledged 
international  obligations  and  certainly  in  the  con- 
fidence that  their  own  government  will  sustain 
them  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights." 

And  then  the  note  which  Mr.  Gerard  handed 
von  Jagow  concluded  with  these  words : 

"It  (The  United  States)  confidently  expects 
therefore  that  the  Imperial  German  Government 
will  disavow  the  acts  of  which  the  United  States 
complains,  that  they  will  make  reparation  as  far 
as  reparation  is  possible  for  injuries  which  are 
without  measure,  and  that  they  will  take  immedi- 
ate steps  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  anything 
so  obviously  subversive  of  the  principles  of  war- 
fare, for  which  the  Imperial  German  Government 
in  the  past  so  wisely  and  so  firmly  contended. 
The  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States 
look  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  for  just, 
prompt  and  enlightened  action  in  this  vital  mat- 
ter. .  .  .  Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of 
reparation  in  the  case  of  neutral  ships  sunk  by 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       61 

mistake,  while  they  may  satisfy  international  ob- 
ligations if  no  loss  of  life  results,  cannot  justify 
or  excuse  a  practice,  the  natural  necessary  effect 
of  which  is  to  subject  neutral  nations  or  neutral 
persons  to  new  and  immeasurable  risks.  The  Im- 
perial German  Government  will  not  expect  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  omit  any 
word,  or  any  act,  necessary  to  the  performance 
of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  the 
United  States  and  its  citizens,  and  of  safeguard- 
ing their  free  exercise  and  enjoyment." 

Never  in  history  had  a  neutral  nation  indicted 
another  as  the  United  States  did  Germany  in  its 
first  Lusitania  note  without  immediately  going  to 
war.  Because  the  Foreign  Office  feared  the  reac- 
tion it  might  have  upon  the  people,  the  news- 
papers were  not  permitted  to  publish  the  text 
until  the  press  bureaus  of  the  Navy  and  the  For- 
eign Office  had  mobilised  the  editorial  writers  and 
planned  a  publicity  campaign  to  follow  the  note's 
publication.  But  the  Navy  and  Foreign  Office 
could  not  agree  on  what  should  be  done.  The 
Navy  wanted  to  ignore  Wilson.  Naval  officers 
laughed  at  President  Wilson's  impertinence  and 
when  the  Foreign  Office  sent  to  the  Admiralty  for 
all  data  in  possession  of  the  Navy  Department 
regarding  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  the  Navy 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  request. 

During  this  time  I  was  in  constant  touch  with 
the  Foreign  Office  and  the  American  Embassy. 


62       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Frequently  I  went  to  the  Navy  Department  but 
was  always  told  they  had  nothing  to  say.  When 
it  appeared,  however,  that  there  might  be  a  break 
in  diplomatic  relations  over  the  Lusitania  the 
Kaiser  called  the  Chancellor  to  Great  Headquar- 
ters for  a  conference.  Meanwhile  Germany  de- 
layed her  reply  to  the  American  note  because  the 
Navy  and  Foreign  Office  were  still  at  loggerheads. 
On  the  31st  of  May  von  Jagow  permitted  me  to 
quote  him  in  an  interview  saying: 

"America  can  hardly  expect  us  to  give  up  any 
means  at  our  disposal  to  fight  our  enemy.  It  is  a 
principle  with  us  to  defend  ourselves  in  every 
possible  way.  I  am  sure  that  Americans  will  be 
reasonable  enough  to  believe  that  our  two  coun- 
tries cannot  discuss  the  Lusitania  matter  until 
both  have  the  same  basis  of  facts." 

The  American  people  were  demanding  an  an- 
swer from  Germany  and  because  the  two  branches 
of  the  Government  could  not  agree  on  what  should 
be  said  von  Jagow  had  to  do  something  to  gain 
time.  Germany,  therefore,  submitted  in  her  reply 
of  the  28th  of  May  certain  facts  about  the  Lusi- 
tania, for  the  consideration  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment saying  that  Germany  reserved  final 
statements  of  its  position  with  regard  "to  the  de- 
mands made  in  connection  with  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  until  a  reply  was  received  from  the 
American  Government. ' '  After  the  note  was  des- 
patched the  chasm  between  the  Navy  and  Foreign 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       63 

Office  was  wider  than  ever.  Ambassador  Gerard, 
who  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  daily,  to  try  to 
convince  the  officials  that  they  were  antagonising 
the  whole  world  by  their  attitude  on  the  Lusitania 
question,  returned  to  the  Embassy  one  day  after 
a  conference  with  Zimmermann  and  began  to  pre- 
pare a  scrap  book  of  cartoons  and  clippings  from 
American  newspapers.  Two  secretaries  were  put 
to  work  pasting  the  comments,  interviews,  edi- 
torials and  cartoons  reflecting  American  opinion 
in  the  scrap  book.  Although  the  German  Foreign 
Office  had  a  big  press  department  its  efforts 
were  devoted  more  to  furnishing  the  outside  world 
with  German  views  than  with  collecting  outside 
opinions  for  the  information  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment. Believing  that  this  information  would 
be  of  immeasurable  benefit  to  the  German  diplo- 
mats in  sounding  the  depths  of  public  sentiment 
in  America,  Gerard  delivered  the  book  to  von 
Jagow  personally. 

In  the  meantime  numerous  conferences  were 
held  at  Great  Headquarters.  Financiers,  business 
men  and  diplomats  who  wanted  to  keep  peace  with 
America  sided  with  the  Foreign  Office.  Every 
anti-American  influence  in  the  Central  Powers 
joined  forces  with  the  Navy.  The  Lusitania  note 
was  printed  and  the  public  discussion  which  re- 
sulted was  greater  than  that  which  followed  the 
first  declarations  of  war  in  August,  1914.  The 
people,  who  before  had  accepted  everything  their 
Government  said,  began  to  think  for  themselves. 


64       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

One  heard  almost  as  much  criticism  as  praise  of 
the  Lusitania  incident.  For  the  first  time  the 
quarrel,  which  had  been  nourished  between  the 
Foreign  Office  and  the  Admiralty,  became  nation- 
wide and  forces  throughout  Germany  lined  up 
with  one  side  or  the  other.  But  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment was  the  cleverer  of  the  two.  The  press 
bureau  sent  out  inspired  stories  that  the  subma- 
rines were  causing  England  a  loss  of  a  million 
dollars  a  week.  They  said  that  every  week  the 
Admiralty  was  launching  two  U-boats.  It  was 
stated  that  reliable  reports  to  Admiral  von  Tir- 
pitz  proved  the  high  toll  taken  by  the  submarines 
in  two  weeks  had  struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of 
English  ship-owners.  The  newspapers  printed 
under  great  headlines:  "Toll  of  Our  Tireless 
U-Boats,"  the  names  and  tonnage  of  ships  lost. 
The  press  bureau  pointed  to  the  rise  in  food 
prices  in  Great  Britain  and  France.  The  public 
was  made  to  feel  a  personal  pride  in  submarine 
exploits.  And  at  the  same  time  the  Navy  editorial 
writers  brought  up  the  old  issue  of  American 
arms  and  ammunition  to  further  embitter  the 
people. 

Thus  the  first  note  which  President  Wilson 
wrote  in  the  Lusitania  case  not  only  brought  the 
quarrel  between  the  Navy  and  Foreign  Office  to  a 
climax  but  it  gave  the  German  people  the  first 
opportunity  they  had  had  seriously  to  discuss 
questions  of  policy  and  right. 

In  the  Rhine  Valley,  where  the  ammunition  in- 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       65 

terests  dominated  every  phase  of  life,  the  Navy 
found  its  staunchest  supporters.  In  educational 
circles,  in  shipping  centres,  such  as  Hamburg  and 
Bremen,  in  the  financial  districts  of  Frankfort 
and  Berlin,  the  Foreign  Office  received  its  sup- 
port. Press  and  Reichstag  were  divided.  Sup- 
porting the  Foreign  Office  were  the  Lokal  An- 
zeiger,  the  Berliner  Tageblatt,  the  Cologne  Ga- 
zette, the  Frankforter  Zeitung,  the  Hamburger 
Fremdemblatt,  and  the  V  or  warts. 

The  Navy  had  the  support  of  Count  Reventlow, 
Naval  Critic  of  the  Deutsche  Tageszeitung,  the 
Tdglische  Rundschau,  the  Vossische  Zeitung,  the 
Morgen  Post,  the  B.  Z.  Am  Mittag,  the  Munchener 
Neueste  Nachrichten,  the  Rheinische  Westfdlische 
Zeitung,  and  the  leading  Catholic  organ,  the  Koel- 
nische  Volks-Zeitung. 

Government  officials  were  also  divided.  Chan- 
cellor von  Bethmann-Hollweg  led  the  party  which 
demanded  an  agreement  with  the  United  States. 
He  was  supported  by  von  Jagow,  Zimmermann, 
Dr.  Karl  Helfferich,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury; 
Dr.  Solf,  the  Colonial  Minister;  Dr.  Siegfried 
Heckscher,  Vice  Chairman  of  the  Reichstag  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Relations ;  and  Philip  Scheide- 
mann,  leader  of  the  majority  of  the  Socialists  in 
the  Reichstag. 

The  opposition  was  led  by  Grand  Admiral  von 
Tirpitz.  He  was  supported  by  General  von  Falk- 
enhayn,  Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen  and  all 
army  generals ;  Admirals  von  Pohl  and  von  Bach- 


66       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

maim ;  Major  Bassermann,  leader  of  the  National 
Liberal  Party  in  the  Reichstag;  Dr.  Gustav  Stres- 
semann,  member  of  the  Reichstag  and  Director  of 
the  North  German  Lloyd  Steamship  Company; 
and  von  Heydebrand,  the  so-called  "Uncrowned 
King  of  Prussia,"  because  of  his  control  of  the 
Prussian  Diet. 

With  these  forces  against  each  other  the  in- 
ternal fight  continued  more  bitter  than  ever. 
President  Wilson  kept  insisting  upon  definite 
promises  from  Germany  but  the  Admiralty  still 
had  the  upper  hand.  There  was  nothing  for  the 
Foreign  Office  to  do  except  to  make  the  best  pos- 
sible excuses  and  depend  upon  Wilson's  patience 
to  give  them  time  to  get  into  the  saddle.  The 
Navy  Department,  however,  was  so  confident  that 
it  had  the  Kaiser's  support  in  everything  it  did, 
that  one  of  the  submarines  was  instructed  to  sink 
the  Arabic. 

President  Wilson's  note  in  the  Arabic  case 
again  brought  the  submarine  dispute  within  Ger- 
many to  a  head.  Conferences  were  again  held 
at  Great  Headquarters.  The  Chancellor,  von  Ja- 
gow,  Helfferich,  von  Tirpitz  and  other  leaders 
were  summoned  by  the  Kaiser.  On  the  28th  of 
August  I  succeeded  in  sending  by  courier  to  The 
Hague  the  following  despatch: 

"With  the  support  of  the  Kaiser,  the  German 
Chancellor,  Dr.  von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  is  ex- 
pected to  win  the  fight  he  is  now  making  for  a 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       67 

modification  of  Germany's  submarine  warfare 
that  will  forever  settle  the  difficulties  with  America 
over  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  and  the  Arabic. 
Both  the  Chancellor  and  von  Jagow  are  most 
anxious  to  end  at  once  and  for  all  time  the  con- 
troversies with  Washington  desiring  America's 
friendship.  (Published  in  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
August  29th,  1915.) 

"The  Marine  Department,  headed  by  von  Tir- 
pitz,  creator  of  the  submarine  policy,  will  oppose 
any  disavowal  of  the  action  of  German's  subma- 
rines. But  the  Kaiser  is  expected  to  approve  the 
steps  the  Chancellor  and  Foreign  Secretary  con- 
template taking,  swinging  the  balance  in  favour 
of  von  Bethmann-Hollweg's  contention  that  ships 
in  the  future  must  be  warned  before  they  are  tor- 
pedoed. ' ' 

One  day  I  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  and  told 
one  of  the  officials  I  believed  that  if  the  American 
people  knew  what  a  difficult  time  the  Foreign  Of- 
fice was  having  in  trying  to  win  out  over  the  Ad- 
miralty that  public  opinion  in  the  United  States 
might  be  mobilised  to  help  the  Foreign  Office 
against  the  Admiralty.  I  took  with  me  a  brief 
despatch  which  I  asked  him  to  pass.  He  censored 
it  with  the  understanding  that  I  would  never  dis- 
close his  name  in  case  the  despatch  was  read  in 
Germany. 

A  few  days  later  the  Manchester,  England, 


68       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Guardian  arrived  containing  my  article,  headed  as 
follows : 

HOLLWEG'S  CHANGE  OF  TUNE 
Respect  for  Scraps  of  Paper 

LAW   AT    SEA 
Insists  on  Warning  by  Submarines 

TIRPITZ   PARTY   BEATEN 
Kaiser  Expected  to  Approve  New  Policy 

"New  York,  Sunday. 

"Cables  from  Mr.  Carl  W.  Ackerman,  Berlin 
correspondent  of  the  United  Press  published 
here,  indicate  that  the  real  crisis  following  the 
Arabic  is  in  Germany,  not  America.  He  writes : 

"The  Berlin  Foreign  Office  is  unalterably  op- 
posed to  submarine  activity,  such  as  evidenced 
by  the  Arabic  affair,  and  it  was  on  the  initiative 
of  this  Government  department  that  immediate 
steps  were  taken  with  Mr.  Gerard  the  American 
Ambassador.  The  nature  of  these  negotiations 
is  still  unknown  to  the  German  public. 

"It  is  stated  on  the  highest  authority  that  Herr 
von  Jagow,  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and 
Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  are  unanimous 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       69 

in  their  anxiety  to  settle  American  difficulties 
once  and  for  all,  retaining  the  friendship  of  the 
United  States  in  any  event. 

* '  The  Kaiser  is  expected  to  approve  the  course 
suggested  by  the  Imperial  Chancellor,  despite 
open  opposition  to  any  disavowal  of  submarine 
activities  which  constantly  emanates  from  the 
German  Admiralty. 

"The  Chancellor  is  extremely  desirous  of  plac- 
ing Germany  on  record  as  an  observer  of  inter- 
national law  as  regards  sea  warfare,  and  in  this 
case  will  win  his  demand  that  submarines  in  the 
future  shall  thoroughly  warn  enemy  ships  before 
firing  their  torpedoes  or  shells. 

"There  is  considerable  discussion  in  official 
circles  as  to  whether  the  Chancellor's  steps  cre- 
ate a  precedent,  but  it  is  agreed  that  it  will  prob- 
ably close  all  complications  with  America,  includ- 
ing the  Lusitania  case,  which  remained  unsettled 
following  President  Wilson's  last  note  to  Ger- 
many. 

'  *  Thus  if  the  United  States  approves  the  pres- 
ent attitude  of  the  Chancellor  this  step  will  aid  in 
clearing  the  entire  situation  and  will  materially 
strengthen  the  policy  of  von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
and  von  Jagow,  which  is  a  deep  desire  for  peace 
with  America." 

After  this  despatch  was  printed  I  was  called 
to  the  home  of  Fran  von  Schroeder,  the  Ameri- 
can-born wife  of  one  of  the  Intelligence  Office  of 


70       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

the  General  Staff.  Captain  Vanselow,  Chief  of 
the  Admiralty  Intelligence  Department,  was  there 
and  had  brought  with  him  the  Manchester  Guar- 
dian. He  asked  me  where  I  got  the  information 
and  who  had  passed  the  despatch.  He  said  the 
Navy  was  up  in  arms  and  had  issued  orders  to 
the  General  Telegraph  Office  that,  inasmuch  as 
Germany  was  under  martial  law,  no  telegrams 
were  to  be  passed  containing  the  words  subma- 
rines, navy,  admiralty  or  marine  or  any  officers 
of  the  Navy  without  having  them  referred  to  the 
Admiralty  for  a  second  censoring.  This  order 
practically  nullified  the  censorship  powers  of  the 
Foreign  Office.  I  saw  that  the  Navy  Department 
was  again  in  the  saddle  and  that  the  efforts  of  the 
Chancellor  to  maintain  peace  might  not  be  suc- 
cessful after  all.  But  the  conferences  at  Great 
Headquarters  lasted  longer  than  any  one  ex- 
pected. The  first  news  we  received  of  what  had 
taken  place  was  that  Secretary  von  Jagow  had 
informed  the  Kaiser  he  would  resign  before  he 
would  do  anything  which  might  cause  trouble  with 
the  United  States. 

Germany  was  split  wide  open  by  the  submarine 
issue.  For  a  while  it  looked  as  if  the  only  pos- 
sible adjustment  would  be  either  for  von  Tirpitz 
to  go  and  his  policies  with  him,  or  for  von  Jagow 
and  the  Chancellor  to  go  with  the  corresponding 
danger  of  a  rupture  with  America.  But  von  Tir- 
pitz would  not  resign.  He  left  Great  Headquar- 
ters for  Berlin  and  intimated  to  his  friends  that 


GULF  BETWEEN  KIEL  AND  BERLIN       71 

he  was  going  to  run  the  Navy  to  suit  himself. 
But  the  Chancellor  who  had  the  support  of  the 
big  shipping  interests  and  the  financiers,  saw  a 
possible  means  of  checkmating  von  Tirpitz  by 
forcing  Admiral  von  Pohl  to  resign  as  Chief  of 
the  Admiralty  Staff.  They  finally  persuaded  the 
Kaiser  to  accept  his  resignation  and  appoint  Ad- 
miral von  Holtzendorff  as  his  successor.  Von 
Holtzendorff 's  brother  was  a  director  of  the  Ham- 
burg-American Line  and  an  intimate  friend  of 
A.  Ballin,  the  General  Director  of  the  company. 
The  Chancellor  believed  that  by  having  a  friend 
of  his  as  Chief  of  the  Admiralty  Staff,  no  orders 
would  be  issued  to  submarine  commanders  con- 
trary to  the  wishes  of  the  Chancellor,  because  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  the  German  Navy  Depart- 
ment the  Chief  of  the  Admiralty  Staff  must  ap- 
prove all  naval  plans  and  sign  all  orders  to  fleet 
commanders. 

Throughout  this  time  the  one  thing  which 
frightened  the  Foreign  Office  was  the  fear  that 
President  Wilson  might  break  off  diplomatic  re- 
lations before  the  Foreign  Office  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  settle  the  differences  with  the  United 
States.  For  this  reason  Ambassador  Gerard  was 
kept  advised  by  Wilhelmstrasse  of  the  internal 
developments  in  Germany  and  asked  to  report 
them  fully  but  confidentially  to  Wilson.  So,  dur- 
ing this  crisis  when  Americans  were  demanding 
a  break  with  Germany  because  of  Germany's  con- 
tinued defiance  of  President  Wilson's  notes,  the 


72       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

American  Government  knew  that  if  the  Foreign 
Office  was  given  more  time  it  had  a  good  chance 
of  succeeding  in  cleaning  house.  A  rupture  at 
that  time  would  have  destroyed  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Foreign  Office  to  keep  the  German  military 
machine  within  bounds.  It  would  have  over- 
thrown von  Jagow  and  von  Bethmann-Hollweg 
and  put  in  von  Tirpitz  as  Chancellor  and  von  Hey- 
debrand,  the  reactionary  leader  of  the  Prussian 
Diet,  as  Secretary  of  State.  At  that  time,  all  the 
democratic  forces  of  Germany  were  lined  up  with 
the  Foreign  Office.  The  people  who  blushed  for 
Belgium,  the  financiers  who  were  losing  money, 
the  shipping  interests  whose  tonnage  was  locked 
in  belligerent  or  neutral  harbours,  the  Socialists 
and  people  who  were  anxious  and  praying  for 
peace,  were  looking  to  the  Foreign  Office  and  to 
Washington  to  avoid  a  break. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE   HATE    CAMPAIGN   AGAINST   AMERICA 

WHILE  Germany  was  professing  her 
friendship  for  the  United  States  in  every 
note  written  following  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania,  the  government  was  secretly  preparing 
the  nation  for  a  break  in  diplomatic  relations,  or 
for  war,  in  the  event  of  a  rupture.  German  offi- 
cials realised  that  unless  the  people  were  made 
to  suspect  Mr.  Wilson  and  his  motives,  unless 
they  were  made  to  resent  the  shipment  of  arms 
and  ammunition  to  the  Allies,  there  would  be  a 
division  in  public  opinion  and  the  government 
would  not  be  able  to  count  upon  the  united  sup- 
port of  the  people.  Because  the  government  does 
the  thinking  for  the  people  it  has  to  tell  them 
what  to  think  before  they  have  reached  the  point 
of  debating  an  issue  themselves.  A  war  with 
America  or  a  break  in  diplomatic  relations  in 
1915  would  not  have  been  an  easy  matter  to  ex- 
plain, if  the  people  had  not  been  encouraged  to 
hate  Wilson.  So  while  Germany  maintained  a 
propaganda  bureau  in  America  to  interpret  Ger- 
many and  to  maintain  good  relations,  she  started 
in  Germany  an  extensive  propaganda  against 

73 


74       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Wilson,  the  American  press,  the  United  States 
Ambassador  and  Americans  in  general. 

This  step  was  not  necessary  in  the  army  be- 
cause among  army  officers  the  bitterness  and 
hatred  of  the  United  States  were  deeper  and  more 
extensive  than  the  hatred  of  any  other  belligerent. 
It  was  hardly  ever  possible  for  the  American  cor- 
respondents to  go  to  the  front  without  being  in- 
sulted. Even  the  American  military  attaches, 
when  they  went  to  the  front,  had  to  submit  to  the 
insults  of  army  officers.  After  the  sinking  of  the 
Arabic  the  six  military  observers  attached  to  the 
American  Embassy  were  invited  by  the  General 
Staff  to  go  to  Russia  to  study  the  military  opera- 
tions of  Field  Marshal  von  Mackensen.  They 
were  escorted  by  Baron  von  Maltzahn,  former 
attache  of  the  German  Embassy  in  Paris.  At 
Lodz,  one  of  the  largest  cities  in  Poland,  they 
were  taken  to  headquarters.  Von  Maltzahn,  who 
knew  Mackensen  personally,  called  at  the  Field 
Marshal's  offices,  reported  that  he  had  escorted 
six  American  army  officers  under  orders  of  the 
General  Staff,  whom  he  desired  to  present  to  the 
Commander-in-Chief.  Von  Mackensen  replied 
that  he  did  not  care  to  meet  the  Americans  and 
told  von  Maltzahn  that  the  best  thing  he  could  do 
would  be  to  escort  the  observers  back  to  Berlin. 

As  soon  as  the  military  attaches  reached  Ber- 
lin and  reported  this  to  Washington  they  were 
recalled. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  time  von  Mackensen, 


BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS 

Cowards,   who  kill  three  thousand  miles  away, 
See  the  long  lines  of  shrouded  forms  increase ! 
Yours  is  this  work,  disguise  it  as  you  may  ; 
But  for  your  greed  the  world  were  now  at  peace. 

Month  after  month  your  countless  chimneys  roar, — 
Slaughter  your   object,  and  your  motive  gain ; 
Look  at  your  money, — it  is  wet  with  gore  ! 
Nothing  can  cleanse  it  from  the  loathsome  stain. 

You,  who  prolong  this  hideous  hell  on  earth, 
Making  a   by-word  of   your   native   land, 
Stripped  of  your  wealth,  how  paltry  is  your  worth  ! 
See  how  men   shrink  from  contact  with   your   hand  ! 

There  is  pollution  in  your  blood-smeared  gold, 
There  is  corruption  in  your  pact  with  Death, 
There  is  dishonor  in   the   lie,   oft-told, 
Of  your  "Humanity"  !     'Tis  empty  breath. 

What  shall  it  profit  you  to  heap  on  high, 
Makers  of  orphans !  a  few  millions  more, 
When  you  must  face  them — those  you  caused  to  die, 
And  God  demands  of  you  to  pay  your  score? 

He  is  not  mocked ;  His  vengeance  doth  not  sleep ; 
His  cup  of  wrath  He  lets  you  slowly  fill ; 
What  you  have  sown,  that  also  shall  you  reap ; 
God's  law  is  adamant — "Thou  shalt  not  kill"  ! 

Think  not  to  plead : — "I  did  not  act  alone," 
"Custom  allows  it,"  and  "My  dead  were  few" ; 
Each  hath  his  quota  ;  yonder  are  your  own ! 
See  how  their  fleshless  fingers  point  at  you,  at  you  I 

You,   to  whose  vaults  this  wholesale  murder  yields 

Mere   needless   increments   of  ghoulish   gain, 

Count  up  your  corpses  on  these  blood-soaked  fields ! 

Hear  .  .  .  till  your  death  .  .  .  your  victims'   moans  of  pain  ! 

Then,  when  at  night  you,  sleepless,  fear  to  pray, 
Watch  the  thick,  crimson  stream  draw  near  your  bed, 
And  shriek  with  horror,  till  the  dawn  of  day 
Shall  find  you  raving  at  your  heaps  of  dead ! 

JOHN  L.   STODDARD. 


The  League  of  Truth 
Head  Offices  for  Germany : 

Berlin  W 
40  Potsdamer   Str. 

July  4th,  1916.  Printed  by  Barthe  &  Co.,  Berlin  W. 


76       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

or  other  army  officers,  showed  their  contempt  for 
the  United  States.  After  the  fall  of  Warsaw  a 
group  of  American  correspondents  were  asked  to 
go  to  the  headquarters  of  General  von  Besseler, 
afterward  named  Governor  General  of  Poland. 
The  general  received  them  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Polish  castle  which  he  had  seized  as  his  head- 
quarters; shook  hands  with  the  Dutch,  Danish, 
Swedish,  Swiss  and  South  American  newspaper 
men,  and  then,  before  turning  on  his  heels  to  go 
back  to  his  Polish  palace,  turned  to  the  Ameri- 
cans and  said: 

"As  for  you  gentlemen,  the  best  thing  you  can 
do  is  to  tell  your  country  to  stop  shipping  arms 
and  ammunition." 

During  General  Brusiloff' s  offensive  I  was  in- 
vited together  with  other  correspondents  to  go  to 
the  Wohlynian  battlefields  to  see  how  the  Ger- 
mans had  reorganised  the  Austrian  front.  In  a 
little  town  near  the  Stochod  River  we  were  in- 
vited to  dinner  by  Colonel  von  Luck.  I  sat  op- 
posite the  colonel,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  re- 
organisation here.  Throughout  the  meal  he  made 
so  many  insulting  remarks  that  the  officer  who 
was  our  escort  had  to  change  the  trend  of  the  con- 
versation. Before  he  did  so  the  colonel  said : 

"Tell  me,  do  they  insult  you  in  Berlin  like 
this?" 

I  replied  that  I  seldom  encountered  such  an- 
tagonism in  Berlin;  that  it  was  chiefly  the  army 
which  was  anti- American. 


"Well,  that's  the  difference  between  the  diplo- 
mats and  the  army.  If  the  army  was  running  the 
government  we  would  probably  have  had  war 
with  America  a  long  time  ago,"  he  concluded, 
smiling  sarcastically. 

Shortly  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  the 
naval  propaganda  bureau  had  bronze  medals  cast 
and  placed  on  sale  at  souvenir  shops  throughout 
Germany.  Ambassador  Gerard  received  one  day, 
in  exchanging  some  money,  a  fifty  mark  bill,  with 
the  words  stamped  in  purple  ink  across  the  face : 
"God  punish  England  and  America."  For  some 
weeks  this  rubber  stamp  was  used  very  effec- 
tively. 

The  Navy  Department  realised,  too,  that  an- 
other way  to  attack  America  and  especially  Amer- 
icans in  Berlin,  was  to  arouse  the  suspicion  that 
every  one  who  spoke  English  was  an  enemy.  The 
result  was  that  most  Americans  had  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly careful  not  to  talk  aloud  in  public 
places.  The  American  correspondents  were  even 
warned  at  the  General  Staff  not  to  speak  English 
at  the  front.  Some  of  the  correspondents  who 
did  not  speak  German  were  not  taken  to  the  battle 
areas  because  the  Foreign  Office  desired  to  avoid 
insults. 

The  year  and  a  half  between  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  and  the  severance  of  diplomatic  rela- 
tions was  a  period  of  terror  for  most  Americans 
in  Germany.  Only  those  who  were  so  sympa- 
thetic with  Germany  that  they  were  anti-Ameri- 


78       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

can  found  it  pleasant  to  live  there.  One  day  one 
of  the  American  girls  employed  in  the  confiden- 
tial file  room  of  the  American  Embassy  was 
slapped  in  the  face  until  she  cried,  by  a  German 
in  civilian  clothes,  because  she  was  speaking  Eng- 
lish in  the  subway.  At  another  time  the  wife  of 
a  prominent  American  business  man  was  spit 
upon  and  chased  out  of  a  public  bus  because  she 
was  speaking  English.  Then  a  group  of  women 
chased  her  down  the  street.  Another  American 
woman  was  stabbed  by  a  soldier  when  she  was 
walking  on  Friedrichstrasse  with  a  friend  be- 
cause she  was  speaking  English.  When  the  State 
Department  instructed  Ambassador  Gerard  to 
bring  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  Foreign 
Office  and  to  demand  an  apology  Wilhelmstrasse 
referred  the  matter  to  the  General  Staff  for  in- 
vestigation. The  soldier  was  arrested  and  se- 
cretly examined.  After  many  weeks  had  elapsed 
the  Foreign  Office  explained  that  the  man  who 
had  stabbed  the  woman  was  really  not  a  soldier 
but  a  red  cross  worker.  It  was  explained  that 
he  had  been  wounded  and  was  not  responsible  for 
what  he  did.  The  testimony  of  the  woman,  how- 
ever, and  of  other  witnesses,  showed  that  the  man 
at  the  time  he  attacked  the  American  was  dressed 
in  a  soldier's  uniform,  which  is  grey,  and  which 
could  not  be  mistaken  for  the  black  uniform  of  a 
red  cross  worker. 

It  was  often  said  in  Berlin,  "Germany  hates 
England,  fights  France,  fears  Russia  but  loathes 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       79 

America."  No  one,  not  even  American  officials, 
questioned  it. 

The  hate  campaign  was  bearing  fruit. 

In  January,  1916,  there  appeared  in  Berlin  a 
publication  called  Light  and  Truth.  It  was  a 
twelve-page  circular  in  English  and  German  at- 
tacking President  Wilson  and  the  United  States. 
Copies  were  sent  by  mail  to  all  Americans  and  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Germans.  It  was  ed- 
ited and  distributed  by  "The  League  of  Truth." 
It  was  the  most  sensational  document  printed  in 
Germany  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  against 
a  power  with  which  Germany  was  supposed  to  be 
at  peace.  Page  6  contained  two  illustrations  un- 
der the  legend : 

WILSON  AND  HIS  PRESS  IS  NOT  AMERICA 
Underneath  was  this  paragraph: 

"An  American  Demonstration — On  the  27th  of 
January,  the  birthday  of  the  German  Emperor, 
an  immense  laurel  wreath  decorated  with  the 
German  and  American  flags  was  placed  by  Amer- 
icans at  the  foot  of  the  monument  to  Frederick 
the  Great  (in  Berlin).  The  American  flag  was 
enshrouded  in  black  crape.  Frederick  the  Great 
was  the  first  to  recognise  the  independence  of  the 
young  Republic,  after  it  had  won  its  freedom 
from  the  yoke  of  England,  at  the  price  of  its  very 
heart's  blood  through  years  of  struggle.  His 
successor,  Wilhelm  II,  receives  the  gratitude  of 


80       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

America  in  the  form  of  hypocritical  phrases  and 
war  supplies  to  his  mortal  enemy." 

One  photograph  was  of  the  wreath  itself.  The 
other  showed  a  group  of  thirty-six  people,  mostly 
boys,  standing  in  front  of  the  statue  after  the 
wreath  had  been  placed. 

"When  Ambassador  Gerard  learned  about  the 
"demonstration"  he  went  to  the  statue  and  from 
there  immediately  to  the  Foreign  Office,  where  he 
saw  Secretary  of  State  von  Jagow.  Gerard  de- 
manded instantaneous  removal  of  the  wreath. 
Von  Jagow  promised  an  "investigation."  Ger- 
ard meanwhile  began  a  personal  investigation  of 
the  League  of  Truth,  which  had  purchased  and 
placed  the  insult  there. 

Days,  weeks,  even  months  passed.  Von  Jagow 
still  refused  to  have  the  wreath  removed.  Finally 
Gerard  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  and  told  von 
Jagow  that  unless  it  was  taken  away  that  day  he 
would  get  it  himself  and  send  it  by  courier  to 
Washington.  That  evening  Gerard  walked  to  the 
statue.  The  wreath  had  disappeared. 

Week  by  week  the  league  continued  its  propa- 
ganda. Gerard  continued  his  investigation. 

July  4,  1916,  another  circular  was  scattered 
broadcast.  On  page  1  was  a  large  black  cross. 
Pages  2  and  3,  the  inside,  contained  a  reprint  of 
the  "Declaration  of  Independence,"  with  the  im- 
print across  the  face  of  a  bloody  hand.  Enclosed 
in  a  heavy  black  border  on  page  4  were  nine 


"£>er  Q3indeftrid) 


LIGHT 


THE   LEAGUE   OF  TRUTH 

Head  Offices  for  Oermanv 
BERLIN     W 
48,  Potsdamer  St 


AND 


TRUTH 

iiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiniNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 


TDeltbund  dcr  TDaljrljdtsfreunde 

Sentralitellefurtleuticbland: 
-Merlin    ~2B 

Pocedomcr  Stc.  48 
3<cnipt«t>cr-Kiicr4rjtJI«« 


Mitteilungen 

d  e  s 

Wahrheitsbundes 


iiiimi     Read,     then     help! 


iiiiiin     C  e  f  c  n  ,    bann    |  « 1  f  r  ll     IHIIIII 


THE    LEAGUE    OF    TRUTH. 

A   Society 
for  Destroying  international   Falsehood. 

Wilhoul  any  blare  of  trumpets,  but  in  that 
quiet  and  seclusion  which  gives  birth  to  all  signifi- 
cant enterprises,  a  league  was  foimed  a  year 
ago  in  Germany  Its  motto  is  "For  Light  and 
Truth"  The  League  now  steps  forth  into  the 
light  of  day  in  order  to  continue  its  activities  in 
a  more  official  manner 

The  "League  of  Truth"  whose  Head  Olfices 
for  Germany  are  located  at  48,  Polsdamer-Strafje, 
Berlin  W,  is  able  to  glance  back  over  a  series 
of  splendid  results,  of  which  more  will  be  heard 
later  on. 

In  order  thai  still  wider  circles  may  interest 
themselves  in  the  ideas  and  activities  of  this 
private  educational  service  maintained  on  true 


5)er 


ab  t  b 


b  u  n  d. 


Cine  TUreinigung 

jut  73ecnichtung   internationaler  Jalfchrjeit 
Obne  Hufbebena,    roie    grofee  Singe    eo    erfordern, 

untcr  der  Parole  ,,5ur  Cidjt  und  TDabtbe't"  In  die 
6ffentlid)feit  ttitt,  urn  ofHsicll  feine  Auftldrungstatigfeit 
fortjuferjen. 

Der  ,,<ZDeltbund  der  OTabrbeitsfreunde",  3entrole 
fur  Deut(d)land:  TSerlin  OT.,  Potsdomer  Strode  48, 
farm  bercite  auf  cine  TUihe  oon  6rfolgen,  fiber  die 
fpater  no<h  ju  rcden  |'ein  roird,  ;urudTblid?en. 

71m  nun  roeite  Kreife  fur  die  Odee  und  Tatigteit 
dicieo  prioaten,  ubernationalen  RufCldrungedienftee  ;u 
intere((ieren,  gab  der  TDabrbeitsbund  dem  aud)  Aus- 
lander,  insbefondere  Amerifaner  angebdren,  feinen  eriten 


FIRST   PAGE  OF   THE    MAGAZINE    "LIGHT   AND   TRUTH" 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       81 

verses  by  John  L.  Stoddard,  the  lecturer,  entitled 
"Blood- Traffickers."  (Printed  in  the  beginning 
of  this  chapter.) 

The  league  made  an  especial  appeal  to  the 
' '  German- Americans. ' '  Germany,  as  was  pointed 
out  in  a  previous  article,  counts  upon  some  Ger- 
man-Americans as  her  allies.  One  day  Ambassa- 
dor Gerard  received  a  circular  entitled  "An  Ap- 
peal to  All  Friends  of  Truth."  The  same  was 
sent  in  German  and  English  to  a  mailing  list  of 
many  hundred  thousands.  Excerpts  from  this 
read: 

"If  any  one  is  called  upon  to  raise  his  voice  in 
foreign  lands  for  the  cause  of  truth,  it  is  the  for- 
eigner who  was  able  to  witness  the  unanimous 
rising  of  the  German  people  at  the  outbreak  of 
war,  and  their  attitude  during  its  continuance. 
This  applies  especially  to  the  German-American. 

"As  a  citizen  of  two  continents,  in  proportion 
as  his  character  has  remained  true  to  German 
principles,  he  finds  both  here  and  there  the  right 
word  to  say.  .  .  . 

"Numberless  millions  of  men  are  forced  to  look 
upon  a  loathsome  spectacle.  It  is  that  of  certain 
individuals  in  America,  to  whom  a  great  nation 
has  temporarily  intrusted  its  weal  and  woe,  sup- 
porting a  few  multi-millionaires  and  their  depen- 
dents, setting  at  naught — unpunished — the  re- 
vered document  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  and 
daring  to  barter  away  the  birthright  of  the  white 


82      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

race.  .  .  .  We  want  to  see  whether  the  united 
voices  of  Germans  and  foreigners  have  not  more 
weight  than  the  hired  writers  of  editorials  in  the 
newspapers;  and  whether  the  words  of  men  who 
are  independent  will  not  render  it  impossible  for 
a  subsidised  press  to  continue  its  destructive 
work. ' ' 

Gerard's  investigation  showed  that  a  group  of 
German-Americans  in  Berlin  were  financing  the 
League  of  Truth;  that  a  man  named  William 
F.  Marten,  who  posed  as  an  American,  was  the 
head,  and  that  the  editors  and  writers  of  the  pub- 
lication Light  and  Truth  were  being  assisted 
by  the  Foreign  Office  Press  Bureau  and  protected 
by  the  General  Staff.  An  American  dentist  in 
Berlin,  Dr.  Charles  Mueller,  was  chairman  of  the 
league.  Mrs.  Annie  Neumann-Hofer,  the  Ameri- 
can-born wife  of  Neumann-Hofer,  of  the  Reichs- 
tag, was  secretary.  Gerard  reported  other  names 
to  the  State  Department,  and  asked  authority  to 
take  away  the  passports  of  Americans  who  were 
assisting  the  German  government  in  this  propa- 
ganda, 

The  "league"  heard  about  the  Ambassador's 
efforts,  and  announced  that  a  "Big  Bertha"  issue 
would  be  published  exposing  Gerard.  For  sev- 
eral months  the  propagandists  worked  to  collect 
data.  One  day  Gerard  decided  to  go  to  the 
league's  offices  and  look  at  the  people  who  were 
directing  it.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  the 
Ambassador  said  that  if  the  Foreign  Office  didn't 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       88 

do  something  to  suppress  the  league  immediately, 
he  would  burn  down  the  place.  The  next  day 
Marten  and  his  co-workers  went  to  the  Royal  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Superior  Court,  No.  1,  in  Ber- 
lin, and  through  his  attorney  lodged  a  criminal 
charge  of  "threat  of  arson"  against  the  Ambas- 
sador. 

The  next  day  Germany  was  flooded  with  letters 
from  "The  League  of  Truth,"  saying: 

"The  undersigned  committee  of  the  League  of 
Truth  to  their  deepest  regret  felt  compelled  to 
inform  the  members  that  Ambassador  Gerard  had 
become  involved  in  a  criminal  charge  involving 
threat  of  arson.  .  .  .  All  American  citizens  are 
now  asked  whether  an  Ambassador  who  acts  so 
undignified  at  the  moment  of  a  formal  threat  of 
a  wholly  unnecessary  war,  is  to  be  considered 
worthy  further  to  represent  a  country  like  the 
United  States." 

Were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  at  this  time  Presi- 
dent Wilson  was  trying  to  impress  upon  Germany 
the  seriousness  of  her  continued  disregard  of 
American  and  neutral  lives  on  the  high  seas,  the 
whole  thing  would  have  been  too  absurd  to  notice. 
But  Germany  wanted  to  create  the  impression 
among  her  people  that  President  Wilson  was  not 
speaking  for  America,  and  that  the  Ambassador 
was  too  insignificant  to  notice. 

After  this  incident  Gerard  called  upon  von  Ja- 


84       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

gow  again  and  demanded  the  immediate  suppres- 
sion of  the  third  number  of  Light  and  Truth. 
Before  von  Jagow  consented  Mrs.  Neumann- 
Hofer  turned  upon  her  former  propagandists  and 
confessed.  I  believe  her  confession  is  in  the  State 
Department,  but  this  is  what  she  told  me : 

''Marten  is  a  German  and  has  never  been  called 
to  the  army  because  the  General  Staff  has  dele- 
gated him  to  direct  this  anti-American  propa- 
ganda. [We  were  talking  at  the  Embassy  the  day 
before  the  Ambassador  left]  Marten  is  sup- 
ported by  some  very  high  officials.  He  has  letters 
of  congratulations  from  the  Chancellor,  General 
von  Falkenhayn,  Count  Zeppelin  and  others  for 
one  of  his  propaganda  books  entitled  'German 
Barbarians.'  I  think  the  Crown  Prince  is  one  of 
his  backers,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  prove 
it." 

On  July  4th,  1915,  the  League  of  Truth  is- 
sued what  it  called  "A  New  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence." This  was  circulated  in  German  and 
English  throughout  the  country.  It  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

The  League  of  Truth,  however,  was  but  one 
branch  of  the  intricate  propaganda  system. 
While  it  was  financed  almost  entirely  by  German- 
Americans  living  in  Germany  who  retained  their 
American  passports  to  keep  themselves,  or  their 
children,  out  of  the  army,  all  publications  for  this 


A  NEW  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

Seven  score  years  have  elapsed  since  those  great  words  were  forged  that  welded  us  into  a 
nation  upon  many  fiery  battlefields. 

In  that  day  the  strong  voices  of  strong  men  rang  across  the  world,  their  molten  words 
flamed  with  light  and  their  arms  broke  the  visible  chains  of  an  intolerable  bondage. 

But  now  in  the  red  reflex  of  the  glare  cast  from  the  battlefields  of  Europe,  the  invisible 
manacles  that  have  been  cunningly  laid  upon  our  freedom  have  become  shamefully  apparent. 
They  rattle  'in  the  ears  of  the  world. 

Our  liberty  has  vanished  once  again.  Yet  our  ancient  enemy  remains  en- 
throned in  high  places  within  our  land  and  in  insolent  ships  before  our  gates.  We 
hav<  not  only  become  Colonials  once  again,  but  subjects,  —  for  true  subjects  are 
known  by  the- measure  of  their  willing  subjection. 

We  Americans  in  the  heart  of  this  heroic  nation  now  struggling  for  all  that  we  ourselves 
hold  dear,  but  against  odds  such  as  we  were  never  forced  to  face,  perceive  this  truth  with  a 
disheartening  but  unclouded  vision. 

Far  from  home  we  would  to-day  celebrate,  as  usual,  the  birthday  of  our  land.  But  with 
heavy  hearts  we  see  that  this  would  now  seem  like  a  hollow  mockery  of  something  solemn  and 
immemorial.  It  were  more  in  keeping  with  reality  that  we  burnt  incense  upon  the  altars  of  the 
British  Baal. 

Independence  Day  without  Independence!  The  liberty  of  the  seas  denied  us  for  the  peaceful 
commerce  of  our  entire  land  and  granted  us  only  for  the  murderous  trafficking  of  a  few  men! 

Independence  Day  has  dawned  for  us  in  alien  yet  friendly  land  It  has  brought  to  us  at  least 
the  independence  of  our  minds. 

Free  from  the  abominations  of  the  most  dastardly  campaign  of  falsehood  that  ever  dis- 
graced those  who  began  and  those  who  believe  it,  we  have  stripped  ourselves  of  the  rags  of 
many  perilous  illusions.  We  see  America  as  a  whole,  and  we  see  it  with  a  fatal  and  terrible 
clarity. 

We  see  that  once  again  our  liberties  of  thought,  of  speech,  of  intercourse,  of 
trade,  are  threatened,  nay,  already  seized  by.the  one  ancient  enemy  that  can  never 
be  our  friend. 

With  humiliation  we  behold  our  principles,  our  sense  of  justice  trodden  underfoot.  We 
see  the  wild  straining  of  the  felon  arms  that  would  drag  our  land  into  the  abyss  of  the  giant 
Conspiracy  and  Crime. 

We  see  the  foul  alliance  of  gold,  murderous  iron  and  debauched  paper  to  which  we  have 
been  sold. 

We  know  that  our  pretenses  and  ambitions  as  heralds  of  peace  are  monstrous,  so  long  as 
we  profit  through  war  and  human  agony. 

We  see  these  rivers  of  blood  that  have  their  source  in  our  mills  of  slaughter. 

The  Day  of  Independence  has  dawned. 

It  is  a  solemn  and  momentous  hour  for  America. 

It  is  a  day  on  which  our  people  must  speak  with  clear  and  inexorable  voice, 
or  sit  silent  in  shame. 

It  is  the  great  hour  in  which  we  dare  not  celebrate  our  first  Declaration  of 
Independence,  because  the  time  has  come  when  we  must  proclaim  a  new  one  over 
the  corpse  of  that  which  has  perished. 

« 

Berlin,  July  4  tb,  1915. 


AN   ANTI-AMERICAN   PROPAGANDA   DOCUMENT 


86       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

bureau  were  approved  by  the  Foreign  Office  cen- 
sors. Germans,  connected  with  the  organisation, 
were  under  direction  of  the  General  Staff  or 
Navy. 

In  order  to  have  the  propaganda  really  success- 
ful some  seeds  of  discontent  had  to  be  sown  in  the 
United  States,  in  South  America  and  Mexico  as 
well  as  in  Spain  and  other  European  neutral 
countries.  For  this  outside  propaganda,  money 
and  an  organisation  were  needed.  The  Krupp 
ammunition  interests  supplied  the  money  and  the 
Foreign  Office  the  organisation. 

For  nearly  two  years  the  American  press  regu- 
larly printed  despatches  from  the  Overseas  News 
Agency.  Some  believed  they  were  "official." 
This  was  only  half  true.  The  Krupps  had  been 
financing  this  news  association.  The  government 
had  given  its  support  and  the  two  wireless  towers 
at  Sayville,  Long  Island,  and  Tuckerton,  N.  J., 
were  used  as  "footholds"  on  American  soil. 
These  stations  were  just  as  much  a  part  of  the 
Krupp  works  as  the  factories  at  Essen  or  the 
shipyards  of  Kiel.  They  were  to  disseminate  the 
Krupp-fed,  Krupp-owned,  Krupp-controlled  news 
of  the  Overseas  News  Agency. 

"When  the  Overseas  despatches  first  reached  the 
United  States  the  newspapers  printed  them  in  a 
spirit  of  fairness.  They  gave  the  other  side,  and 
in  the  beginning  they  were  more  or  less  accurate. 
But  when  international  relations  between  the  two 
countries  became  critical  the  news  began  to  be 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       87 

distorted  in  Berlin.  At  each  crisis,  as  at  the  time 
of  the  sinking  of  the  Arabic,  the  Ancona,  the  Sus- 
sex and  other  ships,  the  German  censorship  pre- 
vented the  American  correspondents  from  send- 
ing the  news  as  they  gathered  it  in  Germany  and 
substituted  "news"  which  the  Krupp  interests 
and  the  Imperial  Foreign  Office  desired  the  Amer- 
ican people  to  believe.  December,  1916,  when  the 
German  General  Staff  began  to  plan  for  an  unre- 
stricted submarine  warfare,  especial  use  was 
made  of  the  "Overseas  News  Agency"  to  work  up 
sentiment  here  against  President  Wilson.  Des- 
perate efforts  were  made  to  keep  the  iTnited 
States  from  breaking  diplomatic  relations.  In 
December  and  January  last  records  of  the  news 
despatches  in  the  American  newspapers  from 
Berlin  show  that  the  Overseas  agency  was  more 
active  than  all  American  correspondents  in  Ber- 
lin. Secretary  of  State  Zimmermann,  Under- 
secretaries von  dem  Busche  and  von  Stumm  gave 
frequent  interviews  to  the  so-called  "representa- 
tives of  the  Overseas  News  Agency."  It  was  all 
part  of  a  specific  Krupp  plan,  supported  by  the 
Hamburg- American  and  the  North  German  Lloyd 
steamship  companies,  to  divide  opinion  in  the 
United  States  so  that  President  Wilson  would 
not  be  supported  if  he  broke  diplomatic  relations. 
Germany,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  has  been  con- 
ducting a  two-faced  propaganda.  While  working 
in  the  United  States  through  her  agents  and  re- 
servists to  create  the  impression  that  Germany 


88 

was  friendly,  the  Government  laboured  to  prepare 
the  German  people  for  war.  The  policy  was  to 
make  the  American  people  believe  Germany 
would  never  do  anything  to  bring  the  United 
States  into  the  war,  but  to  convince  the  German 
public  that  America  was  not  neutral  and  that 
President  Wilson  was  scheming  against  the  Ger- 
man race.  Germany  was  Janus-headed.  Head 
No.  1  said: 

"  America,  you  are  a  great  nation.  We  want 
your  friendship  and  neutrality.  We  have  close 
business  and  blood  relations,  and  these  should 
not  be  broken.  Germany  is  not  the  barbaric  na- 
tion her  enemies  picture  her." 

Head  No.  2,  turned  toward  the  German  people, 
said: 

"Germans,  President  Wilson  is  anti-German. 
He  wants  to  prevent  us  from  starting  an  unlim- 
ited submarine  war.  America  has  never  been 
neutral,  because  Washington  permits  the  ammuni- 
tion factories  to  supply  the  Allies.  These  fac- 
tories are  killing  your  relatives.  We  have  mil- 
lions of  German- Americans  who  will  support  us. 
It  will  not  be  long  until  Mexico  will  declare  war 
on  the  United  States,  and  our  reservists  will  fight 
for  Mexico.  Don't  be  afraid  if  Wilson  breaks 
diplomatic  relations. ' ' 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       89 

The  German  press  invasion  of  America  began 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Dr.  Dernburg  was 
the  first  envoy.  He  was  sent  to  New  York  by  the 
same  Foreign  Office  officials  and  the  same  Krupp 
interests  which  control  the  Overseas  agency. 
Having  failed  here,  he  returned  to  Berlin.  There 
was  only  one  thing  to  save  German  propaganda 
in  America.  That  was  to  mobolise  the  Sayville 
and  Tuckerton  wireless  stations,  and  Germany 
did  it  immediately. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  when  the  British 
censors  refused  the  American  correspondents  in 
Germany  the  right  of  telegraphing  to  the  United 
States  via  England,  the  Berlin  Government 
granted  permission  to  the  United  Press,  The  As- 
sociated Press  and  the  Chicago  Daily  News  to 
send  wireless  news  via  Sayville.  At  first  this 
news  was  edited  by  the  correspondents  of  these 
associations  and  newspapers  in  Berlin.  Later, 
when  the  individual  correspondents  began  to  de- 
mand more  space  on  the  wireless,  the  news  sent* 
jointly  to  these  papers  was  cut  down.  This  un- 
official league  of  American  papers  was  called  the 
"War-Union."  The  news  which  this  union  sent 
was  German,  but  it  was  written  by  trained  Ameri- 
can writers.  When  the  Government  saw  the  value 
of  this  service  to  the  United  States  it  began  to 
send  wireless  news  of  its  own.  Then  the  Krupp 
interests  appeared,  and  the  Overseas  News 
Agency  was  organised.  At  that  moment  the 
Krupp  invasion  of  the  United  States  began  and 


90       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

contributed  800,000  marks  annually  to  this  branch 
of  propaganda  alone. 

Dr.  Hammann,  for  ten  years  chief  of  the  Berlin 
Foreign  Office  propaganda  department,  was  se- 
lected as  president  of  the  Overseas  News  Agency. 
The  Krupp  interests,  which  had  been  subscribing 
400,000  marks  annually  to  this  agency,  subscribed 
the  same  amount  to  the  reorganised  company. 
Then,  believing  that  another  agency  could  be  or- 
ganised, subscribed  400,000  marks  more  to  the 
Transocean  News  Agency.  Because  there  was  so 
much  bitterness  and  rivalry  between  the  officials 
of  the  two  concerns,  the  Government  stepped  in 
and  informed  the  Overseas  News  Agency  that  it 
could  send  only  "political  news,"  while  the  Trans- 
ocean  was  authorised  to  send  "economic  and  so- 
cial news"  via  Sayville  and  Tuckerton. 

This  news,  however,  was  not  solely  for  the 
United  States.  Krupp 's  eyes  were  on  Mexico 
and  South  America,  so  agents  were  appointed  in 
Washington  and  New  York  to  send  the  Krupp- 
bred  wireless  news  from  New  York  by  cable  to 
South  America  and  Mexico.  Obviously  the  same 
news  which  was  sent  to  the  United  States  could 
not  be  telegraphed  to  Mexico  and  South  America, 
because  Germany  had  a  different  policy  toward 
these  countries.  The  United  States  was  on  record 
against  an  unlimited  submarine  warfare.  Mexico 
and  South  America  were  not  Brazil,  which  has 
a  big  German  population,  was  considered  an  un- 
annexed  German  colony.  News  to  Brazil,  there- 


fore,  had  to  be  coloured  differently  than  news  to 
New  York.  Some  of  the  colouring  was  done  in 
Berlin;  some  in  New  York  by  Krupp's  agents 
here.  As  a  result  of  Germany's  anti-United 
States  propaganda  in  South  America  and  Mexico, 
these  countries  did  not  follow  President  Wilson 
when  he  broke  diplomatic  relations  with  Berlin. 
While  public  sentiment  might  have  been  against 
Germany,  it  was,  to  a  certain  degree,  antagonistic 
to  the  United  States. 

Obviously,  Germany  had  to  have  friends  in  this 
country  to  assist  her,  or  what  was  being  done 
would  be  traced  too  directly  to  the  German  Gov- 
ernment. So  Germany  financed  willing  German- 
Americans  in  their  propaganda  schemes.  And 
because  no  German  could  cross  the  ocean  except 
with  a  falsified  neutral  passport,  Germany  had  to 
depend  upon  German- Americans  .with  American 
passports  to  bring  information  over.  These  Ger- 
man-Americans, co-operating  with  some  of  the 
Americans  in  Berlin,  kept  informing  the  Foreign 
Office,  the  army  and  navy  as  well  as  influential 
Reichstag  members  that  the  real  power  behind  the 
government  over  here  was  not  the  press  and  pub- 
lic opinion  but  the  nine  million  Americans  who 
were  directly  or  indirectly  related  to  Germany. 
During  this  time  the  Government  felt  so  sure  that 
it  could  rely  upon  the  so-called  German- Ameri- 
cans that  the  Government  considered  them  as  a 
German  asset  whenever  there  was  a  submarine 
crisis. 


92       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

When  Henry  Morgenthau,  former  American 
Ambassador  to  Turkey,  passed  through.  Berlin, 
en  route  to  the  United  States,  he  conferred  with 
Zimmermann,  who  was  then  Under  Secretary  of 
State.  During  the  course  of  one  of  their  conver- 
sations Zimmermann  said  the  United  States  would 
never  go  to  war  with  Germany,  "because  the  Ger- 
man-Americans would  revolt."  That  was  one  of 
Zimmermann 's  hobbies.  Zimmermann  told  other 
American  officials  and  foreign  correspondents 
that  President  "Wilson  would  not  be  able  to  bring 
the  United  States  to  the  brink  of  war,  because  the 
" German- Americans  were  too  powerful." 

But  Zimmermann  was  not  making  these  state- 
ments upon  his  own  authority.  He  was  being 
kept  minutely  advised  about  conditions  here 
through  the  German  spy  system  and  by  German- 
American  envoys,  who  came  to  Berlin  to  report 
on  progress  the  German- Americans  were  making 
here  in  politics  and  in  Congress. 

Zimmermann  was  so  "dead  sure"  he  was  right 
in  expecting  a  large  portion  of  Americans  to  be 
disloyal  that  one  time  during  a  conversation  with 
Ambassador  Gerard  he  said  that  he  believed  Wil- 
son was  only  bluffing  in  his  submarine  notes. 
When  Zimmermann  was  Under  Secretary  of  State 
I  used  to  see  him  very  often.  His  conversation 
would  contain  questions  like  these : 

"Well,  how  is  your  English  President?  Why 
doesn't  your  President  do  something  against 
England?" 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       93 

Zimmermann  was  always  in  close  touch  with  the 
work  of  Captains  von  Papen  and  Boy-Ed  when 
they  were  in  this  country.  He  was  one  of  the 
chief  supports  of  the  little  group  of  intriguers 
in  Berlin  who  directed  German  propaganda  here. 
Zimmermann  was  the  man  who  kept  Baron  Mumm 
von  Schwarzenstein,  former  Ambassador  to 
Tokyo,  in  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin  as  chief  of 
foreign  propaganda  and  intrigue  in  America  and 
China.  Mumm  had  been  here  as  Minister  Extra- 
ordinary several  years  ago  and  knew  how  Ger- 
many's methods  could  be  used  to  the  best  pur- 
pose, namely,  to  divide  American  sentiment. 
Then,  when  Zimmermann  succeeded  Jagow  he 
ousted  Mumm  because  Mumm  had  become  unpop- 
ular with  higher  Government  authorities. 

One  day  in  Berlin,  just  before  the  recall  of  the 
former  German  military  and  naval  attaches  in 
Washington,  I  asked  Zimmermann  whether  Ger- 
many sanctioned  what  these  men  had  been  doing. 
He  replied  that  Germany  approved  everything 
they  had  done  "  because  they  had  done  nothing 
more  than  try  to  keep  America  out  of  the  war ;  to 
prevent  American  goods  reaching  the  Allies  and 
to  persuade  Germans  and  those  of  German  de- 
scent not  to  work  in  ammunition  factories."  The 
same  week  I  overheard  in  a  Berlin  cafe  two  re- 
serve naval  officers  discuss  plans  for  destroying 
Allied  ships  sailing  from  American  ports.  One 
of  these  men  was  an  escaped  officer  of  an  interned 
liner  at  Newport  News.  He  had  escaped  to  Ger- 


94      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

many  by  way  of  Italy.  That  afternoon  when  I 
saw  Ambassador  Gerard  I  told  him  of  the  con- 
versation of  these  two  men,  and  also  what  Zim- 
mermann  had  said.  The  Ambassador  had  just 
received  instructions  from  Washington  about 
Boy-Ed  and  von  Papen. 

Gerard  was  furious. 

"Go  tell  Zimmermann, ' '  he  said,  "for  God's 
sake  to  leave  America  alone.  If  he  keeps  this  up 
he'll  drag  us  into  the  war.  The  United  States 
won't  stand  this  sort  of  thing  indefinitely." 

That  evening  I  went  back  to  the  Foreign  Office 
and  saw  Zimmermann  for  a  few  minutes.  I  asked 
him  why  it  was  that  Germany,  which  was  at  peace 
with  the  United  States,  was  doing  everything 
within  her  power  to  make  war. 

"Why,  Germany  is  not  doing  anything  to  make 
you  go  to  war,"  he  replied.  "Your  President 
seems  to  want  war.  Germany  is  not  responsible 
for  what  the  German- Americans  are  doing.  They 
are  your  citizens,  not  ours.  Germany  must  not 
be  held  responsible  for  what  those  people  do." 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  the  American 
Government  was  fully  advised  about  Zimmer- 
mann's  intrigues  in  the  United  States  this  remark 
might  be  accepted  on  its  face.  The  United  States 
knew  that  Germany  was  having  direct  negotia- 
tions with  German- Americans  in  the  United 
States.  Men  came  to  Germany  with  letters  of 
introduction  from  leading  German-Americans 
here,  with  the  expressed  purpose  of  trying  to  get 


HATE  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  AMERICA       95 

Germany  to  stop  its  propaganda  here.  What 
they  did  do  was  to  assure  Germany  that  the  Ger- 
man-Americans would  never  permit  the  United 
States  to  be  drawn  into  the  war.  Because  of  their 
high  recommendations  from  Germans  here  some 
of  them  had  audiences  with  the  Kaiser. 

Germany  had  been  supporting  financially  some 
Americans,  as  the  State  Department  has  proof 
of  checks  which  have  been  given  to  American 
citizens  for  propaganda  and  spy  work. 

I  know  personally  of  one  instance  where  Gen- 
eral Director  Heinicken,  of  the  North  German- 
Lloyd,  gave  an  American  in  Berlin  $1,000  for  his 
reports  on  American  conditions.  The  name  can- 
not be  mentioned  because  there  are  no  records  to 
prove  the  transaction,  although  the  man  receiving 
this  money  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  transmit 
$250  to  his  mother  through  the  United  Press  of- 
fice. I  refused. 

When  Zimmermann  began  to  realise  that  Ger- 
many's threatening  propaganda  in  the  United 
States  and  Germany's  plots  against  American 
property  were  not  succeeding  in  frightening  the 
United  States  away  from  war,  he  began  to  look 
forward  to  the  event  of  war.  He  saw,  as  most 
Germans  did,  that  it  would  be  a  long  time  before 
the  United  States  could  get  forces  to  Europe  in  a 
sufficient  number  to  have  a  decisive  effect  upon 
the  war.  He  began  to  plan  with  the  General  Staff 
and  the  Navy  to  league  Mexico  against  America 
for  two  purposes.  One,  Germany  figured  that  a 


96      GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

war  with  Mexico  would  keep  the  United  States 
army  and  navy  busy  over  here.  Further,  Zim- 
mermann  often  said  to  callers  that  if  the  United 
States  went  to  war  with  Mexico  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  American  factories  to  send  so  much 
ammunition  and  so  many  supplies  to  the  Allies. 
German  eyes  turned  to  Mexico.  As  soon  as 
President  Wilson  recognised  Carranza  as  Presi- 
dent, Germany  followed  with  a  formal  recogni- 
tion. Zubaran  Capmany,  who  had  been  Mexican 
representative  in  Washington,  was  sent  to  Berlin 
as  Carranza 's  Minister.  Immediately  upon  his 
arrival  Zimmermann  began  negotiations  with 
him.  Reports  of  the  negotiations  were  sent  to 
Washington.  The  State  Department  was  warned 
that  unless  the  United  States  solved  the  "Mexi- 
can problem"  immediately  Germany  would  pre- 
pare to  attack  us  through  Mexico.  German  reser- 
vists were  tipped  off  to  be  ready  to  go  to  Mexico 
upon  a  moment's  notice.  Count  von  Bernstorff 
and  the  German  Consuls  in  the  United  States 
were  instructed,  and  Bernstorff,  who  was  acting 
as  the  general  director  of  German  interests  in 
North  and  South  America,  was  told  to  inform  the 
German  officials  in  the  Latin-American  countries. 
At  the  same  time  German  financial  interests  be- 
gan to  purchase  banks,  farms  and  mines  in 
Mexico. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE     DOWNFALL     OF     VON     TIRPITZ     AND     VON     FAL- 
KENHAYN 

AFTER  the  sinking  of  the  Arabic  the  Ger- 
man Foreign  Office  intimated  to  the  United 
States  Government  and  to  the  American 
correspondents  that  methods  of  submarine  war- 
fare would  be  altered  and  that  ships  would  be 
warned  before  they  were  torpedoed.  But  when 
the  Navy  heard  that  the  Foreign  Office  was  in- 
clined to  listen  to  Mr.  Wilson's  protests  it  made 
no  attempt  to  conceal  its  opposition.  Gottlieb 
von  Jagow,  the  Secretary  of  State,  although  he 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Kaiser  and  an  offi- 
cer in  the  German  Army,  was  at  heart  a  pacifist. 
Every  time  an  opportunity  presented  itself  he 
tried  to  mobilise  the  peace  forces  of  the  world 
to  make  peace.  From  time  to  time,  the  German 
financiers  and  propaganda  leaders  in  the  United 
States,  as  well  as  influential  Germans  in  the 
neutral  European  countries,  sent  out  peace  "feel- 
ers." Yon  Jagow  realised  that  the  sooner  peace 
was  made,  the  better  it  would  be  for  Germany 
and  the  easier  it  would  be  for  the  Foreign  Office 
to  defeat  the  military  party  at  home.  He  saw 

97 


98       GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

that  the  more  victories  the  army  had  and  the 
more  victories  it  could  announce  to  the  people  the 
more  lustful  the  General  Staff  would  be  for  a 
war  of  exhaustion.  Army  leaders  have  always 
had  more  confidence  in  their  ability  to  defeat  the 
world  than  the  Foreign  Office.  The  army  looked 
at  the  map  of  Europe  and  saw  so  many  hundred 
thousand  square  miles  of  territory  under  occupa- 
tion. The  Foreign  Office  saw  Germany  in  its  re- 
lation to  the  world.  Von  Jagow  knew  that  every 
new  square  mile  of  territory  gained  was  being 
paid  for,  not  only  by  the  cost  of  German  blood, 
but  by  the  more  terrible  cost  of  public  opinion 
and  German  influence  abroad.  But  Germany  was 
under  martial  law  and  the  Foreign  Office  had 
nothing  to  say  about  military  plans.  The  For- 
eign Office  also  had  little  to  say  about  naval  war- 
fare. The  Navy  was  building  submarines  as  fast 
as  it  could  and  the  number  of  ships  lost  encour- 
aged the  people  to  believe  that  the  more  intensified 
the  submarine  war  became,  the  quicker  the  war 
would  end  in  Germany's  favour.  So  the  Navy 
kept  sinking  ships  and  relying  upon  the  Foreign 
Office  to  make  excuses  and  keep  America  out  of 
the  war. 

The  repeated  violations  of  the  pledges  made  by 
the  Foreign  Office  to  the  United  States  aroused 
American  public  opinion  to  white  heat,  and  justly 
so,  because  the  people  here  did  not  understand 
that  the  real  submarine  crisis  was  not  between 
President  Wilson  and  Berlin  but  between  Ad- 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN       99 

miral  von  Tirpitz  and  Secretary  von  Jagow  and 
their  followers.  President  Wilson  was  at  the 
limit  of  his  patience  with  Germany  and  the  Ger- 
man people,  who  were  becoming  impatient  over 
the  long  drawn  out  proceedings,  began  to  accept 
the  inspired  thinking  of  the  Navy  and  to  believe 
that  Wilson  was  working  for  the  defeat  of  Ger- 
many by  interfering  with  submarine  activities. 

On  February  22nd,  1916,  in  one  of  my  des- 
patches I  said:  "The  patient  attitude  toward 
America  displayed  during  the  Lusitania  negotia- 
tions, it  is  plain  to-day,  no  longer  exists  because 
of  the  popular  feeling  that  America  has  already 
hindered  so  many  of  Germany's  plans."  At  that 
time  it  appeared  to  observers  in  Berlin  that  un- 
less President  Wilson  could  show  more  patience 
than  the  German  Government  the  next  subma- 
rine accident  would  bring  about  a  break  in  rela- 
tions. Commenting  on  this  despatch  the  Indianap- 
olis News  the  next  day  said: 

"In  this  country  the  people  feel  that  all  the 
patience  has  been  shown  by  their  government. 
We  believe  that  history  will  sustain  that  view. 
Almost  ten  months  ago  more  than  100  American 
citizens  were  deliberately  done  to  death  by  the 
German  Government,  for  it  is  understood  that 
the  submarine  commander  acted  under  instruc- 
tions, and  that  Germany  refuses  to  disavow  on 
the  ground  that  the  murderous  act  was  the  act  of 
the  German  Government.  Yet,  after  all  this  time, 


100    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

the  Lusitania  case  is  still  unsettled.  The  admin- 
istration has,  with  marvellous  self-restraint,  rec- 
ognised that  public  opinion  in  Germany  was  not 
normal,  and  for  that  reason  it  has  done  every- 
thing in  its  power  to  smooth  the  way  to  a  settle- 
ment by  making  it  as  easy  as  possible  for  the 
Imperial  Government  to  meet  our  just  demands. 
Indeed,  the  President  has  gone  so  far  as  to  expose 
himself  to  severe  criticism  at  home.  We  believe 
that  he  would  have  been  sustained  if  he  had,  im- 
mediately after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania, 
broken  off  diplomatic  relations. 

"But  he  has  stood  out  against  public  opinion 
in  his  own  country,  waited  ten  months  for  an  an- 
swer, and  done  everything  that  he  could  in  honour 
due  to  soften  the  feeling  here.  Yet  just  on  the  eve 
of  a  settlement  that  would  have  been  unsatisfac- 
tory to  many  of  our  people,  Germany  announced 
the  policy  that  we  had  condemned  as  illegal,  and 
that  plainly  is  illegal.  The  trouble  in  Berlin  is 
an  utter  inability  to  see  anything  wrong  in  the 
attack  on  the  Lusitania,  or  to  appreciate  the  sense 
of  horror  that  was  stirred  in  this  country  by  it. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  that  the  policy  of  frightful- 
ness  could  be  extended  to  the  high  seas  without 
in  any  way  shocking  the  American  people.  Noth- 
ing has  come  from  Berlin  that  indicates  any  feel- 
ing of  guilt  on  the  part  of  the  German  people  or 
their  Government. 

"In  the  United  States,  on  the  contrary,  the  act 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  blackest  crimes  of  his- 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     101 

tory.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  that  feeling,  we  have 
waited  patiently  for  ten  months  in  the  hope  that 
the  German  Government  would  do  justice,  and 
clear  its  name  of  reproach.  Yet  now  we  are  told 
that  it  is  Germany  that  has  shown  a  'patient  at- 
titude/ the  implication  or  insinuation  being  that 
our  long  suffering  administration  has  been  unrea- 
sonable and  impatient.  That  will  not  be  the  ver- 
dict of  history,  as  it  is  not  the  verdict  of  our  own 
people.  We  have  made  every  allowance  for  the 
conditions  existing  in  Germany,  and  have  reso- 
lutely refused  to  take  advantage  of  her  distress. 
We  doubt  whether  there  is  any  other  government 
in  the  world  that  would  have  shown  the  patience 
and  moderation,  under  like  provocation,  that  have 
been  shown  by  the  American  Government  in  these 
Lusitatria  negotiations." 

I  sent  the  editorial  to  von  Jagow,  who  returned 
it  the  next  day  with  the  brief  comment  on  one  of 
his  calling  cards:  "With  many  thanks." 

About  this  time  Count  Reventlow  and  the  other 
naval  writers  began  to  refer  to  everything  Presi- 
dent Wilson  did  as  a  "bluff."  When  Col.  E.  M. 
House  came  to  Berlin  early  in  1916,  he  tried  to 
impress  the  officials  with  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wilson 
was  not  only  not  bluffing,  but  that  the  American 
people  would  support  him  in  whatever  he  did  in 
dealing  with  the  German  Government.  Mr.  Ger- 
ard tried  too  to  impress  the  Foreign  Office  but 
because  he  could  only  deal  with  that  branch  of  the 


102    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Government,  he  could  not  change  the  Navy's  im- 
pression, which  was  that  Wilson  would  never  take 
a  definite  stand  against  Germany.  On  the  8th  of 
February,  the  London  Times  printed  the  follow- 
ing despatch  which  I  had  sent  to  the  United 
States : 

"Mr.  Gerard  has  been  accused  of  not  being 
forceful  enough  in  dealing  with  the  Berlin  For- 
eign Office.  In  Berlin  he  has  been  criticised  for 
just  the  opposite.  It  has  been  stated  frequently 
that  he  was  too  aggressive.  The  Ambassador's 
position  was  that  he  must  carry  out  Mr.  Wilson's 
ideas.  So  he  tried  for  days  and  weeks  to  impress 
officials  with  the  seriousness  of  the  situation.  At 
the  critical  point  in  the  negotiations  various  un- 
official diplomats  began  to  arrive  and  they  seri- 
ously interfered  with  negotiations.  One  of  these 
was  a  politician  who  through  his  credentials  from 
Mr.  Bryan  met  many  high  officials,  and  informed 
them  that  President  Wilson  was  writing  his  notes 
for  'home  consumption.'  Mr.  Gerard,  however, 
appealed  to  Washington  to  know  what  was  meant 
by  the  moves  of  this  American  with  authority 
from  Mr.  Bryan.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
reason  for  Secretary  Bryan's  resigning. 

"Secretary  Bryan  had  informed  also  former 
Ambassador  Dumba  that  the  United  States  would 
never  take  any  position  against  Germany  even 
though  it  was  hinted  so  in  the  Lusitania  note. 
Dumba  telegraphed  this  to  Vienna  and  Berlin 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     103 

was  informed  immediately.  Because  of  Mr.  Ger- 
ard's personal  friendship  and  personal  associa- 
tion with  Secretary  of  State  von  Jagow  and  Un- 
der Secretary  of  State  Zimmermann,  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  Secretary  Bryan's  move.  He 
telegraphed  to  President  Wilson  and  the  result 
was  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Bryan." 

In  December,  the  Ancona  was  torpedoed  and  it 
was  officially  explained  that  the  act  was  that  of 
an  Austrian  submarine  commander.  Wilson's 
note  to  Vienna  brought  about  a  near  rupture  be- 
tween Austria-Hungary  and  Germany  because 
Austria  and  Hungary  at  that  time  were  much  op- 
posed to  Germany's  submarine  methods.  Al- 
though the  submarines  operating  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean were  flying  the  Austrian  flag,  they  were 
German  submarines,  and  members  of  the  crews 
were  German.  Throughout  the  life  of  the  Em- 
peror Franz  Josef  the  Dual  Monarchy  was  ruled, 
not  from  Vienna,  but  from  Budapest  by  Count 
Stefan  Tisza,  the  Hungarian  Premier.  I  was  in 
Budapest  at  the  time  and  one  evening  saw  Count 
Tisza  at  his  palace,  which  stands  on  the  rocky 
cliff  opposite  the  main  part  of  Budapest,  and 
which  overlooks  the  valley  of  the  Danube  for 
many  miles.  Tisza,  as  well  as  all  Hungarians,  is 
pro- American  before  he  is  pro-German. 

"To  think  of  trouble  between  Austria-Hungary 
and  the  United  States  is  sheer  nonsense,"  he  said 
in  his  quiet  but  forceful  manner.  "I  must  con- 
fess, however,  that  we  were  greatly  surprised  to 


104    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

get  the  American  note.  It  is  far  from  our  inten- 
tion to  get  into  any  quarrel  with  America.  Per- 
haps I  should  not  say  quarrel,  because  I  know  it 
would  not  be  that,  but  of  course  matters  do  not  de- 
pend upon  us  entirely.  There  is  no  reason  for  any 
trouble  over  the  Ancona  question.  It  must  be 
settled  satisfactorily,"  he  said  emphatically,  "not 
only  from  the  standpoint  of  the  United  States,  but 
from  our  standpoint. ' ' 

The  Ancona  crisis  brought  the  Foreign  Office 
new  and  unexpected  support.  Hungary  was  op- 
posed to  a  dispute  with  America.  In  the  first 
place,  Hungarians  are  more  of  a  liberty  loving 
people  than  the  Germans,  and  public  opinion  in 
Hungary  rules  the  country.  While  there  is  a 
strong  Government  press,  which  is  loyal  to  the 
Tisza  party,  there  is  an  equally  powerful  opposi- 
tion press  which  follows  the  leadership  of  Count 
Albert  Apponyi  and  Count  Julius  Andrassy,  the 
two  most  popular  men  in  Hungarian  public  life. 
Apponyi  told  me  on  one  occasion  that  while  the 
Government  was  controlled  by  Tisza  a  great  ma- 
jority of  the  people  sided  with, the  opposition. 
He  added  that  the  constant  antagonism  of  the 
Liberals  and  Democrats  kept  the  Government 
within  bounds. 

Hungarians  resented  the  stain  upon  their 
honour  of  the  Ancona  incident  and  they  were  on 
the  verge  of  compelling  Berlin  to  assume  respon- 
sibility for  the  sinking  and  adjust  the  matter. 
But  Berlin  feared  that  if  the  Ancona  crime  was 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     105 

accredited  to  the  real  murderers  it  would  bring 
about  another,  and  perhaps  a  fatal  crisis  with  the 
United  States.  So  Vienna  assumed  responsibility 
and  promised  to  punish  the  submarine  com- 
mander who  torpedoed  the  ship. 

This  opposition  from  Hungary  embittered  the 
German  Navy  but  it  was  helpless.  The  growing 
fear  of  the  effects  which  President  Wilson's  notes 
were  having  upon  Americans  and  upon  the  out- 
side neutral  world  caused  opposition  to  von  Tir- 
pitz  to  gain  more  force.  In  desperation  von  Tir- 
pitz  and  his  followers  extended  the  anti-American 
propaganda  and  began  personal  attacks  upon  von 
B  e  thmann-Holl  weg. 

Bitterness  between  these  two  men  became  so 
great  that  neither  of  them  would  go  to  the  Great 
Headquarters  to  confer  with  the  Kaiser  if  the 
other  was  there.  The  personal  opposition  reached 
the  point  where  the  Kaiser  could  not  keep  both 
men  in  his  cabinet.  Von  Tirpitz,  who  thought  he 
was  the  hero  of  the  German  people  because  of  the 
submarine  policy,  believed  he  had  so  much  power 
that  he  could  shake  the  hold  which  the  Kaiser  had 
upon  the  people  and  frighten  the  Emperor  into 
the  belief  that  unless  he  supported  him  against 
the  Chancellor  and  the  United  States,  the  people 
would  overthrow  the  Hohenzollern  dynasty.  But 
von  Tirpitz  had  made  a  good  many  personal  en- 
emies especially  among  financiers  and  business 
men.  So  the  Kaiser,  instead  of  ousting  the  Chan- 
cellor, asked  von  Tirpitz  to  resign  and  appointed 


106     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Admiral  von  Capelle,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  and  a  friend  of  the  Chancellor,  as  von 
Tirpitz'  successor.  Admiral  von  Mueller,  Chief 
of  the  Naval  Cabinet,  who  was  always  at  Great 
Headquarters  as  the  Kaiser's  personal  adviser  on 
naval  affairs,  was  opposed  to  von  Tirpitz  and  ex- 
posed him  at  the  Great  Headquarters  conferences 
by  saying  that  von  Tirpitz  had  falsified  the 
Navy's  figures  as  to  the  number  of  submarines 
available  for  a  blockade  of  England.  Von  Ca- 
pelle supported  von  Mueller  and  when  the  friends 
of  von  Tirpitz  in  the  Reichstag  demanded  an  ex- 
planation for  the  ousting  of  their  idol,  both  the 
Chancellor  and  von  Capelle  explained  that  Ger- 
many could  not  continue  submarine  warfare  which 
von  Tirpitz  had  started,  because  of  the  lack  of  the 
necessary  submarines. 

This  was  the  first  big  victory  of  the  Foreign 
Office.  The  democratic  forces  in  Germany  which 
had  been  fighting  von  Tirpitz  for  over  a  year 
were  jubilant.  Every  one  in  Germany  who  re- 
alised that  not  until  the  hold  of  the  military  party 
upon  the  Kaiser  and  the  Government  was  dis- 
lodged, would  the  Government  be  able  to  make 
peace  now  breathed  sighs  of  relief  and  began  to 
make  plans  for  the  adjustment  of  all  differences 
with  the  United  States  and  for  a  peace  without 
annexation.  Von  Tirpitz  had  had  the  support  of 
all  the  forces  in  Germany  which  looked  forward 
to  the  annexation  of  Belgium  and  the  richest  por- 
tions of  Northern  France.  Von  Tirpitz  was  sup- 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     107 

ported  by  the  men  who  wanted  the  eastern  border 
of  Germany  extended  far  into  Poland  and 
Lithuania. 

Even  Americans  were  delighted.  Washington 
for  the  first  time  began  to  see  that  eleven  months 
of  patience  was  bearing  fruit.  But  this  period  of 
exaltation  was  not  destined  to  last  very  long. 
While  the  Chancellor  had  cleaned  house  in  the 
Navy  Department  at  Berlin  he  had  overlooked 
Kiel.  There  were  admirals  and  officers  in  charge 
there  who  were  making  preparations  for  the 
Navy.  They  were  the  men  who  talked  to  the  sub- 
marine commanders  before  they  started  out  on 
their  lawless  sea  voyages. 

On  March  24th  the  whole  world  was  shocked  by 
another  U-boat  crime.  The  Sussex,  a  French 
channel  steamer,  plying  between  Folkstone  and 
Dieppe,  was  torpedoed  without  warning  and 
Americans  were  among  the  passengers  killed  and 
wounded.  When  the  news  reached  Berlin,  not 
only  the  Chancellor  and  the  Foreign  Office  were 
shocked  and  horrified,  but  the  American  Embassy 
began  to  doubt  whether  the  Chancellor  really 
meant  what  he  said  when  he  informed  Gerard 
confidentially  that  now  that  von  Tirpitz  was  gone 
there  would  be  no  new  danger  from  the  subma- 
rines. Even  the  new  Admiralty  administration 
was  loathe  to  believe  that  a  German  submarine 
was  responsible. 

By  April  5th  it  was  apparent  to  every  one  in 
Berlin  that  there  would  be  another  submarine 


108    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

crisis  with  the  United  States  and  that  the  reac- 
tionary forces  in  Germany  would  attempt  again 
to  overthrow  the  Chancellor.  Dr.  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg,  who  had  been  doing  everything  possible 
to  get  some  one  to  propose  peace,  decided  to  ad- 
dress the  Reichstag  again  on  Germany's  peace 
aims.  It  was  announced  in  the  newspapers  only  a 
few  days  beforehand.  The  demand  for  tickets  of 
admission  was  so  great  that  early  in  the  morning 
on  the  day  scheduled  for  the  address  such  dense 
crowds  surrounded  the  Reichstag  building  that 
the  police  had  to  make  passages  so  the  military 
automobiles  could  reach  the  building  to  bring  the 
officials  there. 

The  Chamber  itself  was  crowded  to  the  rafters. 
On  the  floor  of  the  House  practically  every  mem- 
ber was  in  his  seat.  On  the  rostrum  were  several 
hundred  army  and  naval  officers,  all  members  of 
the  cabinet,  prominent  business  men  and  finan- 
ciers. Every  one  awaited  the  entrance  of  the 
Chancellor  with  great  expectations.  The  National 
Liberals,  who  had  been  clamouring  for  the  annex- 
ation of  Belgium,  the  conservatives,  who  wanted 
a  stronger  war  policy  against  England,  the  Social- 
ists, who  wanted  real  guarantees  for  the  German 
people  for  the  future  and  a  peace  without  annexa- 
tion, sat  quietly  in  their  seats  anxiously  awaiting 
the  Chancellor's  remarks  which  were  expected  to 
satisfy  all  wants. 

The  Chancellor  entered  the  chamber  from  the 
rear  of  the  rostrum  and  proceeded  to  his  desk  in 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     109 

the  front  platform  row,  facing  the  House  and 
galleries.  After  a  few  preliminary  remarks  by 
President  Kaempf,  the  Chancellor  arose.  To  the 
Chancellor's  left,  near  the  rear  of  the  hall  among 
his  Socialist  colleagues,  sat  a  nervous,  deter- 
mined and  defiant  radical.  He  was  dressed  in  the 
uniform  of  a  common  soldier.  Although  he  had 
been  at  the  front  several  months  and  in  the  firing 
line,  he  had  not  received  the  iron  cross  of  the 
second  class  which  practically  every  soldier  who 
had  seen  service  had  been  decorated  with.  His 
clothes  were  soiled,  trousers  stuffed  into  the  top 
of  heavy  military  boots.  His  thick,  curly  hair  was 
rumpled.  At  this  session  of  the  Eeichstag  the 
Chancellor  was  to  have  his  first  encounter  with 
Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht,  the  Socialist  radical,  who  in 
his  soldier 's  uniform  was  ready  to  challenge  any- 
thing the  Chancellor  said. 

The  Chancellor  began  his  address,  as  he  began 
all  others,  by  referring  to  the  strong  military 
position  of  the  German  army.  He  led  up,  gradu- 
ally, to  the  subject  of  peace.  When  the  Chan- 
cellor said:  "We  could  have  gotten  what  we 
wanted  by  peaceful  work.  Our  enemies  chose 
war."  Liebknecht  interjected  in  his  sharp, 
shrill  voice,  "You  chose  the  war!"  There  was 
great  excitement  and  hissing;  the  President  called 
for  order.  Members  shouted :  * '  Throw  him  out ! ' ' 
But  Liebknecht  sat  there  more  determined  than 
ever. 

The  Chancellor  continued  for  a  few  minutes 


110     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

until  lie  reached  the  discussion  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Flemish  nation  in  Belgium,  when  Lieb- 
knecht  again  interrupted,  but  the  Chancellor  con- 
tinued: "  Gentlemen,  we  want  neighbours  who 
will  not  again  unite  against  us  in  order  to 
strangle  us,  but  such  that  we  can  work  with  them 
and  they  with  us  to  our  mutual  advantage."  A 
storm  of  applause  greeted  this  remark.  Lieb- 
knecht  was  again  on  his  feet  and  shouted,  ' '  Then 
you  will  fall  upon  them!" 

"The  Europe  which  will  arise  from  this,  thei 
most  gigantic  of  all  crises,  will  in  many  respects 
not  resemble  the  old  one,"  continued  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg.  "The  blood  which  has  been  shed 
will  never  come  back;  the  wealth  which  has  been 
wasted  will  come  back  but  only  slowly.  In  any 
case,  it  must  become,  for  all  living  in  it,  a  Europe 
of  peaceful  labour.  The  peace  which  shall  end 
this  war  must  be  a  lasting  one  and  not  containing 
the  germ  of  a  fresh  war,  but  establishing  a  final 
and  peaceful  order  of  things  in  European 
affairs." 

Before  the  applause  had  gotten  a  good  start  the 
fiery  private  in  the  Socialists'  rank  was  again  on 
his  feet,  this  time  shouting,  "Liberate  the  Ger- 
man people  first!" 

Throughout  the  Chancellor's  speech  there  was 
not  one  reference  to  the  Sussex.  The  Chancellor 
was  anxious  if  he  could  to  turn  the  world 's  atten- 
tion from  the  Sussex  to  the  larger  question  of 
peace,  but  the  world  was  not  so  inclined. 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     111 

On  the  18th  of  April  I  asked  Admiral  von 
Holtzendorff,  Chief  of  the  Admiralty  Staff,  for 
his  opinion  about  the  Sussex.  Two  days  later  he 
approved  the  interview,  in  which  I  quoted  him  as 
saying : 

"We  did  not  sink  the  Sussex.  I  am  as  con- 
vinced of  that  as  of  anything  which  has  happened 
in  this  war.  If  you  read  the  definite  instructions, 
the  exact  orders  each  submarine  commander  has 
you  would  understand  that  the  torpedoing  of  the 
Sussex  was  impossible.  Many  of  our  submarines 
have  returned  from  rounding  up  British  vessels. 
They  sighted  scores  of  passenger  ships  going  be- 
tween England  and  America  but  not  one  of  these 
was  touched. 

"We  have  definitely  agreed  to  warn  the  crews 
and  passengers  of  passenger  liners.  We  have 
lived  up  to  that  promise  in  every  way.  We  are 
not  out  to  torpedo  without  warning  neutral  ships 
bound  for  England.  Our  submarines  have  re- 
spected every  one  of  them  so  far,  and  they  have 
met  scores  in  the  North  Sea,  the  Channel  and  the 
Atlantic." 

On  the  same  day  that  Ambassador  Gerard 
handed  von  Jagow  Secretary  Lansing's  note, 
Under  Secretary  of  State  Zimmermann  approved 
the  von  Holtzendorff  interview.  Zimmermann 
could  not  make  himself  believe  that  a  German 
submarine  was  responsible  and  the  Government 


112    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

had  decided  to  disavow  all  responsibility.  But 
such  convincing  reports  began  to  arrive  from  the 
United  States  and  from  neutral  European  coun- 
tries which  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  a  German 
submarine  was  responsible,  that  the  Government 
had  to  again  bring  up  the  submarine  issue  at  Great 
Headquarters.  When  the  von  Holtzendorff  inter- 
view was  published  in  the  United  States  it  caused 
a  sensation  because  if  Germany  maintained  the 
attitude  which  the  Chief  of  the  Admiralty  Staff 
had  taken  with  the  approval  of  the  Foreign  Office, 
a  break  in  diplomatic  relations  could  not  be 
avoided.  Secretary  Lansing  telegraphed  Ambas- 
sador Gerard  to  inquire  at  the  Foreign  Office 
whether  the  statements  of  von  Holtzendorff  repre- 
sented the  opinions  of  the  German  Government. 
Gerard  called  me  to  the  Embassy  but  before  I 
arrived  Dr.  Heckscher,  of  the  Reichstag  Foreign 
Relations  Committee,  came.  Gerard  called  me  in 
in  Heckscher 's  presence  to  ask  if  I  knew  that  the 
von  Holtzendorff  interview  would  bring  about  a 
break  in  diplomatic  relations  unless  it  was  im- 
mediately disavowed.  He  told  Dr.  Heckscher  to 
inform  Zimmermann  that  if  the  Chief  of  the  Ad- 
miralty Staff  was  going  to  direct  Germany's  for- 
eign policies  he  would  ask  his  government  to  ac- 
credit him  to  the  naval  authorities  and  not  to  the 
Foreign  Office.  Heckscher  would  not  believe  my 
statement  that  Zimmermann  had  approved  the 
interview  and  assured  Gerard  that  within  a  very 
short  time  the  Foreign  Office  would  disavow  von 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     113 

Holtzendorff's  statements.  When  he  arrived  at 
the  Foreign  Office,  however,  Zimmermann  not 
only  refused  to  disavow  the  Admiral's  statement 
but  informed  Heckscher  that  he  had  the  same 
opinions. 

President  Wilson  was  at  the  end  of  his  patience. 
Probably  he  began  to  doubt  whether  he  could  rely 
upon  the  reports  of  Ambassador  Gerard  that 
there  was  a  chance  of  the  democratic  forces  in 
Germany  coming  out  ahead  of  the  military  caste. 
Wilson  showed  his  attitude  plainly  in  the  Sussex 
note  when  he  said: 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
been  very  patient.  At  every  stage  of  this  distress- 
ing experience  of  tragedy  after  tragedy  it  has 
sought  to  be  governed  by  the  most  thoughtful 
considerations  of  the  extraordinary  circum- 
stances of  an  unprecedented  war  and  to  be  guided 
by  sentiments  of  very  genuine  friendship  for  the 
people  and  the  Government  of  Germany.  It  has 
accepted  the  successive  explanations  and  assur- 
ances of  the  Imperial  Government  as  of  course 
given  in  entire  sincerity  and  good  faith,  and  has 
hoped  even  against  hope  that  it  would  prove  to 
be  possible  for  the  Imperial  Government  so  to 
order  and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval  command- 
ers as  to  square  its  policy  with  the  recognised 
principles  of  humanity  as  embodied  in  the  law  of 
nations.  It  has  made  every  allowance  for  un- 
precedented conditions  and  has  been  willing  to 


114     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

wait  until  the  facts  became  unmistakable  and 
were  susceptible  of  only  one  interpretation.  It 
now  owes  it  to  a  just  regard  for  its  own  rights  to 
say  to  the  Imperial  Government  that  that  time 
has  come.  It  has  become  painfully  evident  to  it 
that  the  position*  which  it  took  at  the  very  outset 
is  inevitable,  namely  that  the  use  of  submarines 
for  the  destruction  of  enemy  commerce  is  of  ne- 
cessity, because  of  the  very  character  of  the  ves- 
sels employed  and  the  very  methods  of  attack 
which  their  employment  of  course  involves,  ut- 
terly incompatible  with  the  principles  of  human- 
ity, the  long  established  and  incontrovertible 
rights  of  neutrals  and  the  sacred  immunities  of 
non-combatants. 

"If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment to  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscrimi- 
nate warfare  against  vessels  of  commerce  by  the 
use  of  submarines  without  regard  to  what  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  must  consider 
the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  international 
law  and  the  universally  recognised  dictates  of 
humanity,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
is  at  last  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
but  one  course  it  can  pursue.  Unless  the  Imperial 
Government  should  now  immediately  declare  and 
effect  an  abandonment  of  its  present  methods  of 
submarine  warfare  against  passenger  and  freight 
carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  German  Government  altogether. 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     115 

This  action  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
contemplates  with  the  greatest  reluctance  but 
feels  constrained  to  take  in  behalf  of  humanity 
and  the  rights  of  neutral  nations. ' ' 

After  von  Jagow  read  the  note  the  Foreign 
Office  Telegraph  Bureau  sent  it  to  Great  Head- 
quarters, which  at  this  time  was  still  located  in 
Charleville,  France,  for  the  information  of  the 
Kaiser  and  General  von  Falkenhayn.  It  was  evi- 
dent to  every  one  in  Berlin  that  again,  not  only 
the  submarine  issue  was  to  be  debated  at  Great 
Headquarters,  but  that  the  Kaiser  was  to  be 
forced  again  to  decide  between  the  Chancellor  and 
his  democratic  supporters  and  von  Falkenhayn 
and  the  military  party.  Before  the  Conference 
convened  General  Headquarters  sent  inquiries  to 
five  government  departments,  the  Foreign  Office, 
the  Navy,  the  Ministry  of  War,  the  Treasury,  and 
Interior.  The  Ministers  at  the  head  of  these  de- 
partments were  asked  to  state  whether  in  their 
opinion  the  controversy  with  America  should  be 
adjusted,  or  whether  the  submarine  warfare 
should  be  continued.  Dr.  Karl  Helfferich,  the 
Vice  Chancellor  and  Minister  of  Interior,  Secre- 
tary of  State  von  Jagow,  and  Count  von  Roedern, 
Minister  of  Finance,  replied  to  adjust  the  diffi- 
culty. The  Army  and  Navy  said  in  effect:  "If 
you  can  adjust  it  without  stopping  the  submarine 
warfare  and  without  breaking  with  the  United 
States  do  so." 


116     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

The  latter  part  of  April  the  Kaiser  summoned 
all  of  his  ministers  and  his  leading  generals  to 
the  French  chateau  which  he  used  as  his  head- 
quarters in  Charleville.  This  city  is  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  cities  in  the  occupied  districts 
of  northern  France.  It  is  located  on  the  banks  of 
the  Meuse  and  contains  many  historic,  old  ruins. 
At  one  end  of  the  town  is  a  large  stone  castle, 
surrounded  by  a  moat.  This  was  made  the  head- 
quarters of  the  General  Staff  after  the  Germans 
invaded  this  section  of  France.  Near  the  railroad 
station  there  was  a  public  park.  Facing  it  was  a 
French  chateau,  a  beautiful,  comfortable  home. 
This  was  the  Kaiser 's  residence.  All  streets  leading 
in  this  direction  were  barricaded  and  guarded  by 
sentries.  No  one  could  pass  without  a  special  writ- 
ten permit  from  the  Chief  of  the  General  Staff. 
Von  Falkenhayn  had  his  home  nearby  in  another 
of  the  beautiful  chateaux  there.  The  chief  of  every 
department  of  the  General  Staff  lived  in  princely 
fashion  in  houses  which  in  peace  time  were  homes 
for  distinguished  Frenchmen.  There  were  left  in 
Charleville  scarcely  a  hundred  French  citizens, 
because  obviously  French  people,  who  were  ene- 
mies of  Germany,  could  not  be  permitted  to  go 
back  and  forth  in  the  city  which  was  the  centre 
of  German  militarism. 

When  the  ministers  arrived  at  the  Kaiser's 
headquarters,  His  Majesty  asked  each  one  to  make 
a  complete  report  on  the  submarine  war  as  it 
affected  his  department.  Dr.  Helfferich  was 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     117 

asked  to  go  into  the  question  of  German  finance 
and  the  relation  of  America  to  it.  Dr.  Solf,  the 
Colonial  Minister,  who  had  been  a  very  good 
friend  of  Ambassador  Gerard,  discussed  the  ques- 
tion of  the  submarine  warfare  from  the  stand- 
point of  its  relation  to  Germany's  position  as  a 
world  power.  Admiral  von  Capelle  placed  before 
the  Kaiser  the  figures  of  the  number  of  ships  sunk, 
their  tonnage,  the  number  of  submarines  operat- 
ing, the  number  under  construction  and  the  num- 
ber lost.  General  von  Falkenhayn  reported  on 
the  military  situation  and  discussed  the  hypo- 
thetical question  as  to  what  effect  American  inter- 
vention would  have  upon  the  European  war 
theatres. 

While  the  conferences  were  going  on,  Dr. 
Heckscher  and  Under  Secretary  Zimmermann, 
who  at  that  time  were  anxious  to  avoid  a  break 
with  the  United  States,  sounded  Ambassador 
Gerard  as  to  whether  he  would  be  willing  to  go 
to  Great  Headquarters  to  confer  with  the  Kaiser. 
The  Foreign  Office  at  the  same  time  suggested  the 
matter  to  the  General  Staff  and  within  a  few  hours 
Mr.  Gerard  was  invited  to  go  to  Charleville.  Be- 
fore the  ambassador  arrived  the  Kaiser  called  all 
of  his  ministers  together  for  a  joint  session  and 
asked  them  to  make  a  brief  summary  of  their 
arguments.  This  was  not  a  peace  meeting.  Not 
only  opponents  of  submarine  warfare  but  its  ad- 
vocates mobilised  all  their  forces  in  a  final  attempt 
to  win  the  Kaiser's  approval.  His  Majesty,  at 


118     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

this  time,  was  inclined  towards  peace  with  Amer- 
ica and  was  very  much  impressed  by  the  argu- 
ments which  the  Chancellor  and  Dr.  Helfferich 
presented.  But,  at  this  meeting,  while  Helfferich 
was  talking  and  pointing  to  the  moral  effect  which 
the  ruthless  torpedoing  of  ships  was  having  upon 
neutral  countries,  von  Falkenhayn  interrupted 
with  the  succinct  statement: 

"Neutrals?  Damn  the  neutrals!  Win  the 
war !  Our  task  is  to  win.  If  we  win  we  will  have 
the  neutrals  with  us ;  if  we  lose  we  lose. ' ' 

"Falkenhayn,  when  you  are  versed  in  foreign 
affairs  I'll  ask  you  to  speak/'  interrupted  the 
Kaiser.  "Proceed,  Dr.  Helfferich." 

Gentleman  that  he  is,  von  Falkenhayn  accepted 
the  Imperial  rebuke,  but  not  long  afterward  his 
resignation  was  submitted. 

As  a  result  of  these  conferences  and  the  argu- 
ments advanced  by  Ambassador  Gerard,  Secre- 
tary von  Jagow  on  May  4th  handed  the  Ambas- 
sador the  German  note  in  reply  to  President  Wil- 
son's Sussex  ultimatum.  In  this  communication 
Germany  said: 

"Fully  conscious  of  its  strength,  the  German 
Government  has  twice  in  the  course  of  the  past 
few  months  expressed  itself  before  all  the  world 
as  prepared  to  conclude  a  peace  safeguarding  the 
vital  interests  of  Germany.  In  doing  so,  it  gave 
expression  to  the  fact  that  it  was  not  its  fault  if 
peace  was  further  withheld  from  the  peoples  of 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     119 

Europe.  With  a  correspondingly  greater  claim 
of  justification,  the  German  Government  may  pro- 
claim its  unwillingness  before  mankind  and  his- 
tory to  undertake  the  responsibility,  after  twenty- 
one  months  of  war,  to  allow  the  controversy  that 
has  arisen  over  the  submarine  question  to  take  a 
turn  which  might  seriously  affect  the  maintenance 
of  peace  between  these  two  nations. 

''The  German  Government  guided  by  this  idea 
notifies  the  Government  of  the  United  States  that 
instructions  have  been  issued  to  German  naval 
commanders  that  the  precepts  of  the  general 
international  fundamental  principles  be  observed 
as  regards  stopping,  searching  and  destruction  of 
merchant  vessels  within  the  war  zone  and  that 
such  vessels  shall  not  be  sunk  without  warning 
and  without  saving  human  life  unless  the  ship 
attempts  to  escape  or  offers  resistance." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  it  was  a  group  of 
military  leaders  consisting  of  General  von  Moltke, 
General  von  Falkenhayn,  General  von  Mackensen, 
General  von  Herringen,  Grand  Admiral  von  Tir- 
pitz,  and  a  few  of  the  Prussian  military  clique, 
which  prevailed  upon  the  Kaiser  to  go  to  war 
after  the  assassination  of  the  heir  to  the  Austrian 
throne  and  his  wife.  The  Allies  proclaimed  in 
their  publications,  in  the  press  and  in  Parliaments 
that  they  were  fighting  to  destroy  and  overthrow 
the  military  party  in  Germany  which  could  make 
war  without  public  consent.  Millions  of  Allied 


120     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

soldiers  were  mobilised  and  fighting  in  almost  a 
complete  ring  surrounding  Germany,  Austria 
Hungary,  Bulgaria  and  Turkey.  They  had  been 
fighting  since  August,  1914,  for  twenty-one 
months,  and  still  their  fighting  had  not  shattered 
or  weakened  the  hold  which  the  military  party 
had  upon  the  people  and  the  Kaiser.  Von  Tirpitz 
and  von  Falkenhayn,  who,  shortly  after  the  war 
began,  became  the  ringleaders  of  Germany's  or- 
ganised Might,  had  fallen  not  before  the  armed 
foes  on  the  battlefield  but  before  an  unarmed 
nation  with  a  president  whose  only  weapon  was 
public  opinion.  First,  von  Tirpitz  fell  because  he 
was  ready  to  defy  the  United  States.  Then  came 
the  downfall  of  von  Falkenhayn,  because  he  was 
prepared  to  damn  the  United  States  and  all  neu- 
trals. Surely  a  nation  and  a  government  after 
thirteen  months  of  patience  and  hope  had  a  right 
to  believe  that  after  all  public  opinion  was  a 
weapon  which  was  sometimes  more  effective  than 
any  other.  Mr.  Wilson  and  the  State  Department 
were  justified  in  feeling  that  their  policy  toward 
Germany  was  after  all  successful  not  alone  be- 
cause it  had  solved  the  vexing  submarine  issue, 
but  because  it  had  aided  the  forces  of  democracy 
in  Germany.  Because,  with  the  downfall  of  von 
Falkenhayn  and  von  Tirpitz,  there  was  only  one 
recognised  authority  in  Germany.  That  was  the 
Chancellor  and  the  Foreign  Office,  supported  al- 
most unanimously  by  the  Socialists  and  by  the 


VON  TIRPITZ  AND  VON  FALKENHAYN     121 

Liberal  forces  which  were  at  work  to  reform  the 
German  Government. 

But  this  was  in  May,  1916,  scarcely  eight 
months  before  the  Kaiser  changed  his  mind  and 
again  decided  to  support  the  people  who  were 
clamouring  for  a  ruthless,  murderous,  defiant  war 
against  the  whole  world,  if  the  world  was 
"foolish"  enough  to  join  in. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  PERIOD  OF   NEW   ORIENTATION 

DE.  KARL  LIEBKNECHT,  after  lie  had 
challenged  the  Chancellor  on  the  4th  of 
April,  became  the  object  of  attack  by  the 
military  authorities.  The  Chancellor,  although  he 
is  the  real  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  is,  also,  a 
Major  General  in  the  Army  and  for  a  private  like 
Liebknecht  to  talk  to  a  Major  General  as  he  did 
in  the  Reichstag  was  contrary  to  all  rules  and 
precedents  in  the  Prussian  Army.  The  army  was 
ready  to  send  Liebknecht  to  the  firing  squad  and 
it  was  only  a  short  time  until  they  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  arrest  him.  Liebknecht  started  riots  in 
some  of  the  ammunition  factories  and  one  night 
at  Potsdamer  Platz,  dressed  in  civilian  clothes,  he 
shouted,  "Down  with  the  Government,"  and 
started  to  address  the  passers-by.  He  was  seized 
immediately  by  government  detectives,  who  were 
always  following  him,  and  taken  to  the  police  sta- 
tion. His  home  was  searched  and  when  the  trial 
began  the  papers,  found  there,  were  placed  before 
the  military  tribunal  as  evidence  that  he  was  plot- 
ting against  the  Government.  The  trial  was 
secret,  and  police  blockaded  all  streets  a  quarter 

122 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     123 

of  a  mile  away  from  the  court  where  he  was  tried. 
Throughout  the  proceedings  which  lasted  a  week 
the  newspapers  were  permitted  to  print  only  the 
information  distributed  by  the  Wolff  Telegraph 
Bureau.  But  public  sympathy  for  Liebknecht 
was  so  great  that  mounted  police  were  kept  in 
every  part  of  the  city  day  and  night  to  break  up 
crowds  which  might  assemble.  Behind  closed 
doors,  without  an  opportunity  to  consult  his 
friends,  with  only  an  attorney  appointed  by  the 
Government  to  defend  him,  Liebknecht  was  sen- 
tenced to  two  years '  hard  labour.  His  only  crime 
was  that  he  had  dared  to  speak  in  the  Reichstag 
the  opinions  of  some  of  the  more  radical  socialists. 

Liebknecht 's  imprisonment  was  a  lesson  to 
other  Socialist  agitators.  The  day  after  his  sen- 
tencing was  announced  there  were  strikes  in 
nearly  every  ammunition  factory  in  and  around 
Berlin.  Even  at  Spandau,  next  to  Essen  the  larg- 
est ammunition  manufacturing  city  in  Germany, 
several  thousand  workmen  left  their  benches  as  a 
protest,  but  the  German  people  have  such  terrible 
fear  of  the  police  and  of  their  own  military  or- 
ganisation that  they  strike  only  a  day  and  return 
the  next  to  forget  about  previous  events. 

If  there  were  no  other  instances  in  Germany 
to  indicate  that  there  was  the  nucleus  for  a  democ- 
racy this  wrould  seem  to  be  one.  One  might  say, 
too,  that  if  such  leaders  as  Liebknecht  could  be 
assisted,  the  movement  for  more  freedom  might 
have  more  success. 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

It  was  very  difficult  for  the  German  public  to 
accept  the  German  reply  to  President  Wilson's 
Sussex  note.  The  people  were  bitter  against  the 
United  States.  They  hated  Wilson.  They  feared 
him.  And  the  idea  of  the  German  Government 
bending  its  knee  to  a  man  they  hated  was  enough 
cause  for  loud  protests.  This  feeling  among  the 
people  found  plenty  of  outlets.  The  submarine 
advocates,  who  always  had  their  ears  to  the 
ground,  saw  that  they  could  take  advantage  of 
this  public  feeling  at  the  expense  of  the  Chancellor 
and  the  Foreign  Office.  Prince  von  Buelow,  the 
former  Chancellor,  who  had  been  spending  most 
of  his  time  in  Switzerland  after  his  failure  to 
keep  Italy  out  of  the  war,  had  written  a  book 
entitled  "  Deutsche  Politik,"  which  was  intended 
to  be  an  indictment  of  von  Bethmann-Hollweg's 
international  policies.  Von  Buelow  returned  to 
Berlin  at  the  psychological  moment  and  began  to 
mobilise  the  forces  against  the  Chancellor. 

After  the  Sussex  dispute  was  ended  the  Social- 
ist organ  Vorwaerts,  supported  by  Philip  Scheide- 
mann,  leader  of  the  majority  of  the  Socialists,  de- 
manded that  the  Government  take  some  steps 
toward  peace.  But  the  General  Staff  was  so  busy 
preparing  for  the  expected  Allied  offensive  that 
it  had  no  time  to  think  about  peace  or  about 
internal  questions.  When  von  Falkenhayn  re- 
signed and  von  Hindenburg  arrived  at  Great 
Headquarters  to  succeed  him  the  two  generals  met 
for  the  first  time  in  many  months.  (There  was 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     125 

bitter  feeling  between  the  two.)  Von  Falkenhayn, 
as  he  turned  the  office  over  to  his  successor,  said : 

"Has  Your  Excellency  the  courage  to  take  over 
this  position  now?" 

"I  have  always  had  the  courage,  Your  Excel- 
lency," replied  von  Hindenburg,  "but  not  the 
soldiers. ' ' 

In  the  Eeichstag  there  has  been  only  one  real 
democratic  party.  That  is  the  Socialist.  The 
National  Liberal  Party,  which  has  posed  as  a 
reform  organisation,  is  in  reality  nothing  more 
than  the  party  controlled  by  the  ammunition  and 
war  industries.  When  these  interests  heard  that 
submarine  warfare  was  to  be  so  restricted  as  to  be 
practically  negligible,  they  began  to  sow  seeds  of 
discontent  among  the  ammunition  makers.  These 
interests  began  to  plan  for  the  time  when  the 
submarine  warfare  would  again  be  discussed. 
Their  first  scheme  was  to  try  to  overthrow  the 
Chancellor.  If  they  were  not  successful  then  they 
intended  to  take  advantage  of  the  democratic 
movement  which  was  spreading  in  Germany  to 
compel  the  Government  to  consent  to  the  creation 
of  a  Eeichstag  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  to 
consult  with  the  Foreign  Office  when  all  questions 
of  international  policy,  including  submarine  war- 
fare, was  up  for  discussion.  Their  first  policy  was 
tried  early  in  July.  Seizing  that  clause  in  the 
German  note  which  said  that  Germany  would  hold 
herself  free  to  change  her  promises  in  the  Sussex 
case  if  the  United  States  was  not  successful 


126 

against  England,  the  Navy  began  to  threaten  {he 
United  States  with  renewed  submarine  warfare 
unless  President  Wilson  acted  against  Great 
Britain. 

Reporting  some  of  these  events  on  June  12th, 
the  Evening  Ledger  of  Philadelphia  printed  the 
following  despatch  which  I  sent: 


,  July  12.  —  The  overthrow  of  Chancel- 
lor von  Bethmann-Hollweg,  champion  of  a  con- 
ciliatory policy  toward  the  United  States,  and  the 
unloosing  of  German  submarines  within  three 
months,  was  predicted  by  von  Tirpitz  supporters 
here  to-day  unless  President  Wilson  acts  against 
the  British  blockade. 

"Members  of  the  Conservative  party  and  those 
favouring  annexation  of  territory  conquered  by 
Germany  joined  in  the  forecast.  They  said  the 
opinion  of  America  will  be  disregarded. 

"A  private  source,  close  to  the  Foreign  Office, 
made  this  statement  regarding  the  attempt  to 
unseat  Bethmann-Hollweg  at  a  time  when  the  war 
is  approaching  a  crisis: 

"  '  Unless  America  does  something  against 
England  within  the  next  three  months  there  will 
be  a  bitter  fight  against  the  Chancellor.  One  can- 
not tell  whether  he  will  be  able  to  hold  his  own 
against  such  opposition.  The  future  of  German- 
American  relations  depends  upon  America.' 

"Despite  this  political  drive  against  the  man 
who  stood  out  against  a  break  with  the  United 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION 

States  in  the  Lusitania  crisis,  Americans  here  be- 
lieve Bethmann-Hollweg  will  again  emerge  trium- 
phant. They  feel  certain  that  if  the  Chancellor 
appealed  to  the  public  for  a  decision  he  would  be 
supported. 

"The  fight  to  oust  the  Chancellor  has  now 
grown  to  such  proportions  that  it  overshadows  in 
interest  the  Allied  offensive.  The  attacks  on  the 
Chancellor  have  gradually  grown  bolder  since  the 
appearance  of  Prince  Buelow's  book  'Deutsche 
Politik,'  because  this  book  is  believed  to  be  the 
opening  of  Buelow's  campaign  to  oust  the  Chan- 
cellor and  step  back  into  the  position  he  occupied 
until  succeeded  by  Bethmann-Hollweg  in  1909. 

' '  The  movement  has  grown  more  forceful  since 
the  German  answer  to  President  Wilson's  ulti- 
matum was  sent.  The  Conservatives  accepted  the 
German  note  as  containing  a  conditional  clause, 
and  they  have  been  waiting  to  see  what  steps  the 
United  States  would  take  against  England. 

"Within  the  past  few  days  I  have  discussed  the 
situation  with  leaders  of  several  parties  in  the 
Eeichstag.  A  National  Liberal  member  of  the 
Reichstag,  who  was  formerly  a  supporter  of  von 
Tirpitz,  and  the  von  Tirpitz  submarine  policies, 
said  he  thought  Buelow's  success  showed  that 
opposition  to  America  was  not  dead. 

"  'Who  is  going  to  be  your  next  President — 
Wilson  or  Hughes?'  he  asked,  and  then,  without 
waiting  for  an  answer,  continued: 

"  'If  it  is  Hughes  he  can  be  no  worse  than 


128     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Wilson.  The  worst  lie  can  do  is  to  declare  war 
on  Germany  and  certainly  that  would  be  prefer- 
able to  the  present  American  neutrality. 

"  'If  this  should  happen  every  one  in  our  navy 
would  shout  and  throw  up  his  hat,  for  it  would 
mean  unlimited  sea  war  against  England.  Our 
present  navy  is  held  in  a  net  of  notes. 

"  'What  do  you  think  the  United  States  could 
do?  You  could  not  raise  an  army  to  help  the 
Allies.  You  could  confiscate  our  ships  in  Ameri- 
can ports,  but  if  you  tried  to  use  them  to  carry 
supplies  and  munitions  to  the  Allies  we  would  sink 
them. 

' '  '  Carrying  on  an  unlimited  submarine  war,  we 
could  sink  600,000  tons  of  shipping  monthly,  de- 
stroy the  entire  merchant  fleets  of  the  leading 
powers,  paralyse  England  and  win  the  war.  Then 
we  would  start  all  over,  build  merchantmen  faster 
than  any  nation,  and  regain  our  position  as  a  lead- 
ing commercial  power.' 

"Friends  of  the  Chancellor  still  hope  that 
President  Wilson  will  take  a  strong  stand  against 
England,  thereby  greatly  strengthening  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg's  position.  At  present  the  cam- 
paign against  the  Chancellor  is  closely  connected 
with  internal  policies  of  the  Conservatives  and  the 
big  land  owners.  The  latter  are  fighting  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  because  he  promised  the  people,  on 
behalf  of  the  Kaiser,  the  enactment  of  franchise 
reforms  after  the  war." 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     129 

Commenting  on  this  despatch,  the  New  York 
World  said: 

"Not  long  ago  it  was  the  fashion  among  the 
opponents  of  the  Administration  to  jeer  loudly  at 
the  impotent  writing  of  notes.  And  even  among 
the  supporters  of  the  Administration  there  grew 
an  uneasy  feeling  that  we  had  had  notes  ad 
nauseam. 

"Yet  these  plodding  and  undramatic  notes 
arouse  in  Germany  a  feeling  very  different  from 
one  of  ridicule.  The  resentful  respect  for  our 
notes  is  there  admirably  summed  up  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Reichstag  who  to  the  correspondent 
of  the  United  Press  exclaimed  bitterly:  'Our 
present  navy  is  held  in  a  net  of  notes.' 

"Nets  may  not  be  so  spectacular  as  knuckle- 
dusters, but  they  are  slightly  more  civilised  and 
generally  more  efficient." 

The  National  Liberal  Reichstag  member  who 
was  quoted  was  Dr.  Ghistav  Stressemann.  Stresse- 
mann  is  one  of  the  worst  reactionaries  in  Ger- 
many but  he  likes  to  pose  as  a  progressive.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  men  to  suggest  that  the  Reich- 
stag form  a  committee  on  foreign  relations  to 
consult  with  and  have  equal  power  of  decision 
with  the  Foreign  Office. 

For  a  great  many  months  the  Socialist  depu- 
ties of  the  Prussian  Diet  have  been  demanding 
election  reforms.  Their  demands  were  so  insist- 


130     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ent  that  over  a  year  ago  the  Chancellor,  when  he 
read  the  Kaiser's  address  from  the  throne  room 
in  the  residence  palace  in  Berlin  to  the  deputies, 
promised  election  reforms  in  Prussia — after  the 
war.  But  during  last  summer  the  Socialists  began 
to  demand  immediate  election  reforms.  To  fur- 
ther embarrass  the  Chancellor  and  the  Govern- 
ment, the  National  Liberals  made  the  same  de- 
mands, knowing  all  the  time  that  if  the  Govern- 
ment ever  attempted  it,  they  could  swing  the 
Reichstag  majority  against  the  proposal  by  tech- 
nicalities. 

Throughout  the  summer  months  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  hush  up  the  incessant  discussion  of 
war  aims.  More  than  one  newspaper  was  sup- 
pressed for  demanding  peace  or  for  demanding  a 
statement  of  the  Government's  position  in  regard 
to  Belgium  and  Northern  France.  The  peace 
movement  within  Germany  grew  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  The  Socialists  demanded  immediate  ac- 
tion by  the  Government.  The  Conservatives,  the 
National  Liberals  and  the  Catholic  party  wanted 
peace  but  only  the  kind  of  a  peace  which  Germany 
could  force  upon  the  Entente.  The  Chancellor  and 
other  German  leaders  tried  again  throughout  the 
summer  and  fall  to  get  the  outside  world  inter- 
ested in  peace  but  at  this  time  the  English  and 
French  attacks  on  the  Somme  were  engaging  the 
attention  and  the  resources  of  the  whole  world. 

Before  these  conflicting  movements  within  Ger- 
many can  be  understood  one  must  know  some- 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     131 

thing  of  the  organisation  of   Germany  in  war 
time. 

When  the  military  leaders  of  Germany  saw 
that  the  possibility  of  capturing  Paris  or  of  de- 
stroying London  was  small  and  that  a  German 
victory,  which  would  fasten  Teutonic  peace  terms 
on  the  rest  of  the  world,  was  almost  impossible, 
they  turned  their  eyes  to  Austria-Hungary,  Bul- 
garia, the  Balkans  and  Turkey.  Friederich 
Naumann,  member  of  the  Progressive  Party  of 
the  Reichstag,  wrote  a  book  on  * '  Central  Europe, ' ' 
describing  a  great  nation  stretching  from  the 
North  Sea  to  Bagdad,  including  Germany,  all  of 
Austria-Hungary,  parts  of  Serbia  and  Roumania 
and  Turkey,  with  Berlin  as  the  Capital.  It  was 
toward  this  goal  which  the  Kaiser  turned  the 
forces  of  Germany  at  his  command.  If  Germany 
could  not  rule  the  world,  if  Germany  could  not 
conquer  the  nine  nations  which  the  Director  of 
the  Post  and  Telegraph  had  lined  up  on  the  2nd 
of  August,  1914,  then  Germany  could  at  least 
conquer  the  Dual  Monarchy,  the  Balkans  and 
Turkey,  and  even  under  these  circumstances  come 
out  of  the  war  a  greater  nation  than  she  entered 
it.  But  to  accomplish  this  purpose  one  thing 
had  to  be  assured.  That  was  the  control  of  the 
armies  and  navies  and  the  foreign  policies  of  these 
governments.  The  old  Kaiser  Franz  Josef  was  a 
man  who  guarded  everything  he  had  as  jealously 
as  a  baby  guards  his  toys.  At  one  time  when  it 
was  suggested  to  the  aged  monarch  that  Germany 


132     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

and  Austria-Hungary  could  establish  a  great 
kingdom  of  Poland  as  a  buffer  nation,  if  he  would 
only  give  up  Galicia  as  one  of  the  states  of  this 
kingdom,  he  replied  in  his  childish  fashion: 

"What,  those  Prussians  want  to  take  another 
pearl  out  of  my  crown?" 

In  June  the  Austro-Hungarian  General  Staff 
conducted  an  offensive  against  Italy  in  the  Tren- 
tino  with  more  success  than  the  Germans  had 
anticipated.  But  the  Austrians  had  not  calcu- 
lated upon  Eussia.  In  July  General  Brusiloff 
attacked  the  Austrian  forces  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Lusk,  succeeded  in  persuading  or  bribing  a 
Bohemian  army  corps  to  desert  and  started 
through  the  Austrian  positions  like  a  flood  over 
sloping  land.  Brusiloff  not  only  took  several  hun- 
dred thousand  prisoners.  He  not  only  broke 
clear  through  the  Austrian  lines  but  he  thor- 
oughly demoralised  and  destroyed  the  Austrian 
army  as  a  unit  in  the  world  war.  Von  Hinden- 
burg,  who  had  been  made  Chief  of  the  German 
General  Staff,  was  compelled  to  send  thousands 
of  troops  to  the  Wohlynian  battlefields  to  stop 
the  Russian  invasion.  But  von  Hindenburg  did 
not  look  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction  upon  the 
possibility  of  such  a  thing  happening  again  and 
informed  the  Kaiser  that  he  would  continue  as 
Chief  of  the  General  Staff  only  upon  condition 
that  he  be  made  chief  of  all  armies  allied  to  Ger- 
many. At  a  Conference  at  Great  Headquarters 
at  Pless,  in  Silicia,  where  offices  were  moved  from 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     133 

France  as  soon  as  the  Field  Marshal  took  charge, 
Hindenburg  was  made  the  leader  of  all  the  armed 
forces  in  Central  Europe.  Thus  by  one  stroke, 
really  by  the  aid  of  Russia,  Germany  succeeded  in 
conquering  Austria-Hungary  and  in  taking  away 
from  her  command  all  of  the  forces,  naval  and 
military,  which  she  had.  At  the  same  time  the 
Bulgarian  and  Turkish  armies  were  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  von  Hindenburg.  So  far  so  good  for 
the  Prussians. 

But  there  were  still  some  independent  forces 
left  within  the  Central  Powers.  Hungary  was  not 
content  to  do  the  bidding  of  Prussia.  Hungarians 
were  not  ready  to  live  under  orders  from  Berlin. 
Even  as  late  as  a  few  months  ago  when  the  Ger- 
man Minister  of  the  Interior  called  a  conference 
in  Berlin  to  mobilise  all  the  food  within  the  Cen- 
tral Powers,  the  Hungarians  refused  to  join  a 
scheme  which  would  rob  them  of  food  they  had 
jealously  guarded  and  saved  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war. 

In  the  Dual  Monarchy  there  are  many  freedom 
loving  people  who  are  longing  for  a  deliverer. 
Hungary  at  one  time  feared  Russia  but  only  be- 
cause of  the  Czar.  The  real  and  most  powerful 
democratic  force  among  the  Teutonic  allies  is  lo- 
cated there  in  Budapest.  I  know  of  no  city  out- 
side of  the  United  States  where  the  people  have 
such  love  of  freedom  and  where  public  opinion 
plays  such  a  big  role.  Budapest,  even  in  war 
times,  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  cities  in 


134     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Europe  and  Hungary,  even  as  late  as  last  Decem- 
ber, was  not  contaminated  by  Prussian  ideas.  I 
saw  Russian  prisoners  of  war  walking  through 
the  streets  and  mingling  with  the  Hungarian 
soldiers  and  people.  American  Consul  General 
Coffin  informed  me  that  there  were  seven  thou- 
sand Allied  subjects  in  Budapest  who  were  undis- 
turbed. English  and  French  are  much  more  pop- 
ular than  Germans.  One  day  on  my  first  visit  in 
Budapest  I  asked  a  policeman  in  front  of  the 
Hotel  Ritz  in  German,  " Where  is  the  Reichstag?" 
He  shook  his  head  and  went  on  about  his  business 
regulating  the  traffic  at  the  street  corner.  Then 
I  asked  him  half  in  English  and  half  in  French 
where  the  Parliament  was. 

With  a  broad  smile  he  said:  "Ah,  Monsieur, 
voila,  this  street  your  right,  vis  a  vis."  Not  a 
word  of  German  would  he  speak. 

After  the  Allied  offensive  began  on  the  Somme 
the  old  friends  of  von  Tirpitz,  assisted  by  Prince 
von  Buelow,  started  an  offensive  against  the 
Chancellor,  with  renewed  vigour.  This  time  they 
were  determined  to  oust  him  at  all  costs.  They 
sent  emissaries  to  the  Rhine  Valley,  which  is 
dominated  by  the  Krupp  ammunition  factories. 
These  emissaries  began  by  attacking  the  Chan- 
cellor's attitude  towards  the  United  States.  They 
pointed  out  that  Germany  could  not  possibly  win 
the  war  unless  she  defeated  England,  and  it  was 
easy  for  any  German  to  see  that  the  only  way 
England  could  be  attacked  was  from  the  seas ;  that 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     135 

as  long  as  England  had  her  fleet  or  her  merchant 
ships  she  could  continue  the  war  and  continue  to 
supply  the  Allies.  It  was  pointed  out  to  the  am- 
munition makers,  also,  that  they  were  already 
fighting  the  United  States ;  that  the  United  States 
was  sending  such  enormous  supplies  to  the  En- 
tente, that  unless  the  submarines  were  used  to  stop 
these  supplies  Germany  would  most  certainly  be 
defeated  on  land.  And,  it  was  explained  that  a 
defeat  on  land  meant  not  only  the  defeat  of  the 
German  army  but  the  defeat  of  the  ammunition 
interests. 

From  April  to  December,  1916,  was  also  the 
period  of  pamphleteering.  Every  one  who  could 
write  a  pamphlet,  or  could  publish  one,  did  so. 
The  censorship  had  prohibited  so  many  people 
and  so  many  organisations  from  expressing  their 
views  publicly  that  they  chose  this  method  of  cir- 
culating their  ideas  privately.  The  pamphlets 
could  be  printed  secretly  and  distributed  through 
the  mails  so  as  to  avoid  both  the  censors  and  the 
Government.  So  every  one  in  Germany  began  to 
receive  documents  and  pamphlets  about  all  the 
ails  and  complaints  within  Germany.  About  the 
only  people  who  did  not  do  this  were  the  Social- 
ists. The  "Alt-Deutsch  Verband,"  which  was  an 
organisation  of  the  great  industrial  leaders  of 
Germany,  had  been  bitterly  attacked  by  the  Berlin 
Tageblatt  but  when  the  directors  wanted  to  pub- 
lish their  reply  the  censors  prohibited  it.  So,  the 
Alt-Deutsch  Verband  issued  a  pamphlet  and  sent 


136     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

it  broadcast  throughout  Germany.  In  the  mean- 
time the  Chancellor  and  the  Government  realised 
that  unless  something  was  done  to  combat  these 
secret  forces  which  were  undermining  the  Govern- 
ment *s  influence,  that  there  would  be  an  eruption 
in  Germany  which  might  produce  serious  results. 

Throughout  this  time  the  Socialist  party  was 
having  troubles  of  its  own.  Liebknecht  was  in 
prison  but  there  was  a  little  group  of  radicals  who 
had  not  forgotten  it.  They  wanted  the  Socialist 
party  as  a  whole  to  do  something  to  free  Lieb- 
knecht. The  party  had  been  split  before  the  ad- 
vance of  last  summer  so  efforts  were  made  to 
unite  the  two  factions.  At  a  well  attended  con- 
ference in  the  Reichstag  building  they  agreed  to 
forget  old  differences  and  join  forces  in  support 
of  the  Government  until  winter,  when  it  was 
hoped  peace  could  be  made. 

The  Socialist  party  at  various  times  during  the 
war  has  had  a  difficult  time  in  agreeing  on  govern- 
ment measures.  While  the  Socialists  voted  unani- 
mously for  war  credits  at  the  beginning,  a  year 
afterward  many  of  them  had  changed  their  minds 
and  had  begun  to  wonder  whether,  after  all,  they 
had  not  made  a  mistake.  This  was  the  issue  which 
brought  about  the  first  split  in  the  Socialists' 
ranks.  When  it  came  time  in  1916  to  vote  further 
credits  to  the  Government  the  Socialists  held  a 
caucus.  After  three  days  of  bitter  wrangling  the 
ranks  split.  One  group  headed  by  Scheidemann 
decided  to  support  the  Government  and  another 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     137 

group  with  Herr  Wolfgang  Heine  as  the  leader, 
decided  to  vote  against  the  war  loans. 

Scheidemann,  who  is  the  most  capable  and  most 
powerful  Socialist  in  Germany,  carried  with  him 
the  majority  of  the  delegates  and  was  supported 
by  the  greater  part  of  public  opinion.  Heine, 
however,  had  the  support  of  men  like  Dr.  Haase 
and  Eduard  Bernstein  who  had  considerable  in- 
fluence with  the  public  but  who  were  not  organ- 
isers or  men  capable  of  aggressive  action,  like 
Scheidemann.  As  far  as  affecting  the  Govern- 
ment's plans  were  concerned  the  Socialist  split 
did  not  amount  to  much.  In  Germany  there  is 
such  a  widespread  fear  of  the  Government  and  the 
police  that  even  the  most  radical  Socialists  hesi- 
tate to  oppose  the  Government.  In  war  time  Ger- 
many is  under  complete  control  of  the  military 
authorities  and  even  the  Reichstag,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  a  legislative  body,  is  in  reality  during 
war  times  only  a  closed  corporation  which  does 
the  bidding  of  the  Government.  The  attitude  of 
the  Reichstag  on  any  question  is  not  determined 
at  the  party  caucuses  nor  during  sessions.  Im- 
portant decisions  are  always  arrived  at  at  Great 
Headquarters  between  the  Chancellor  and  the 
military  leaders.  Then  the  Chancellor  returns  to 
Berlin,  summons  the  party  leaders  to  his  palace, 
explains  what  the  Government  desires  and,  with- 
out asking  the  leaders  for  their  support,  tells  them 
that  is  what  von  Hindenburg  expects.  They  know 
there  is  no  choice  left  to  them.  Scheidemann 


138     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

always  attends  these  conferences  as  the  Socialist 
representative  because  the  Chancellor  has  never 
recognised  the  so-called  Socialist  Labour  Party 
which  is  made  up  of  Socialist  radicals  who  want 
peace  and  who  have  reached  the  point  when  they 
can  no  longer  support  the  Government. 

One  night  at  the  invitation  of  an  editor  of  one 
of  Berlin's  leading  newspapers,  who  is  a  Socialist 
radical,  I  attended  a  secret  session  of  the  Socialist 
Labour  Party.  At  this  meeting  there  were  pres- 
ent three  members  of  the  Reichstag,  the  President 
of  one  of  Germany's  leading  business  organisa- 
tions, two  newspaper  editors,  one  labour  agitator 
who  had  been  travelling  to  industrial  centres  to 
mobilise  the  forces  which  were  opposed  to  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  war,  and  a  rather  well  known 
Socialist  writer  who  had  been  inspiring  some  anti- 
Government  pamphlets  which  were  printed  in 
Switzerland  and  sent  by  mail  to  Germany.  One 
of  the  business  men  present  had  had  an  audience 
of  the  Kaiser  and  he  reported  what  the  monarch 
told  him  about  the  possibilities  of  peace.  The  re- 
port was  rather  encouraging  to  the  Socialists  be- 
cause the  Kaiser  said  he  would  make  peace  as 
soon  as  there  was  an  opportunity.  But  these 
Socialists  did  not  have  much  faith  in  the  Kaiser's 
promises  and  jokingly  asked  the  business  man  if 
the  Kaiser  did  not  decorate  him  as  a  result  of  the 
audience ! 

The  real  object  of  this  meeting  was  to  discuss 
means  of  acquainting  the  German  people  with  the 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     139 

American  organisation  entitled  the  League  to 
Enforce  Peace.  An  American  business  man,  who 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  American  organisa- 
tion, was  there  to  explain  the  purposes  of  the 
League.  The  meeting  decided  upon  the  publica- 
tion in  as  many  German  newspapers  as  possible 
of  explanatory  articles.  The  newspaper  editor 
present  promised  to  prepare  them  and  urged  their 
publication  in  various  journals.  The  first  article 
appeared  in  Die  Welt  Am  Montag,  one  of  the 
weekly  newspapers  of  Berlin.  It  was  copied  by  a 
number  of  progressive  newspapers  throughout  the 
Empire  but  when  the  attention  of  the  military  and 
naval  authorities  was  called  to  this  propaganda 
an  order  was  issued  prohibiting  any  newspaper 
from  making  any  reference  to  the  League  to  En- 
force Peace.  The  anti- American  editorial  writers 
were  inspired  to  write  brief  notices  to  the  effect 
that  the  League  was  in  reality  to  be  a  League 
against  Germany  supported  by  England  and  the 
United  States. 

Throughout  the  summer  and  fall  there  appeared 
in  various  newspapers,  including  the  influential 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  inspired  articles  about  the 
possibilities  of  annexing  the  industrial  centres  and 
important  harbours  of  Belgium.  In  Munich  and 
Leipsic  a  book  by  Dr.  Schumacher,  of  Bonn  Uni- 
versity, was  published,  entitled,  "Antwerp,  Its 
World  Position  and  Importance  for  Germany's 
Economic  Life."  Another  writer  named  Ulrich 
Rauscher  wrote  a  number  of  newspaper  and 


140     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

magazine  articles  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that 
Germany  would  need  Antwerp  after  this  war  in 
order  to  successfully  compete  with  Holland,  Eng- 
land and  France  in  world  commerce.  He  figured 
that  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  transporta- 
tion from  the  Ehine  Valley  industrial  cities  to 
Antwerp  and  the  cost  of  transportation  from  the 
Ehine  Valley  to  Hamburg  and  Bremen  would  be 
great  enough  as  to  enable  German  products  to  be 
sold  in  America  for  less  money  than  products  of 
Germany's  enemies. 

These  articles  brought  up  the  old  question  of 
the  ''freedom  of  the  seas."  Obviously,  if  the 
Allies  were  to  control  the  seas  after  the  war,  as 
they  had  during  the  war,  Germany  could  make 
no  plans  for  the  re-establishment  of  her  world 
commerce  unless  there  were  some  assurances  that 
her  merchant  fleet  would  be  as  free  on  the  high 
seas  as  that  of  any  other  nation.  During  the  war 
Germany  had  talked  a  great  deal  about  the  free- 
dom of  the  seas.  When  the  Lusitania  was  tor- 
pedoed von  Jagow  said  in  an  interview  that  Ger- 
many was  fighting  for  the  free  seas  and  that  by 
attacking  England's  control,  Germany  was  act- 
ing in  the  interests  of  the  whole  world.  But  Ger- 
many was  really  not  sincere  in  what  she  said 
about  having  the  seas  free.  What  Germany  really 
desired  was  not  freedom  of  the  seas  in  peace  time 
because  the  seas  had  been  free  before  the  war. 
What  Germany  wanted  was  free  seas  in  war  time, 
— freedom  for  her  own  merchant  ships  to  go  from 


>Cu«.<^vc^*      i/G* 


—    m  •  •»• 
'^-9^ 


THIS     IS     THE    PHOTOGRAPH     OF    VON     HINDENBURG 
WHICH    EVERY    GERMAN    HAS    IN    HIS    HOME 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     141 

Germany  to  any  part  of  the  world  and  return 
with  everything  except  absolute  contraband. 
Germany's  object  was  to  keep  from  building  a 
navy  great  enough  to  protect  her  merchant  fleet 
in  order  that  she  might  devote  all  her  energies  to 
army  organisation.  But  the  freedom  of  the  seas 
was  a  popular  phrase.  Furthermore  it  explained 
to  the  German  people  why  their  submarine  war- 
fare was  not  inhuman  because  it  was  really  fight- 
ing for  the  freedom  of  all  nations  on  the  high 
seas! 

While  these  public  discussions  were  going  on, 
the  fight  on  the  Chancellor  began  to  grow.  It 
was  evident  that  when  the  Reichstag  met  again 
in  September  that  there  would  be  bitter  and  per- 
haps a  decisive  fight  on  von  Bethmann-Hollweg. 
The  division  in  Germany  became  so  pronounced 
that  people  forgot  for  a  time  the  old  party  lines 
and  the  newspapers  and  party  leaders  spoke  of 
the  "Bethmann  parties"  and  the  "von  Tirpitz 
party."  Whether  the  submarine  should  be  used 
ruthlessly  against  all  shipping  was  the  issue  which 
divided  public  sentiment.  The  same  democratic 
forces  which  had  been  supporting  the  Chancellor 
in  other  fights  again  lined  up  with  the  Foreign 
Office.  The  reactionaries  supported  Major  Bas- 
sermann,  who  really  led  the  fight  against  the 
Chancellor.  During  this  period  the  Chancellor 
and  the  Foreign  Office  saw  that  the  longer  the  war 
lasted  the  stronger  the  von  Tirpitz  party  would 
become  because  the  people  were  growing  more  des- 


142     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

perate  and  were  enthused  by  the  propaganda  cry 
of  the  Navy,  "Down  with  England."  The  Chan- 
cellor and  the  Foreign  Office  tried  once  more  to 
get  the  world  to  talk  about  peace.  After  the  presi- 
dential nominations  in  Ajnerica  the  press  began  to 
discuss  the  possibilities  of  American  peace  inter- 
vention. Every  one  believed  that  the  campaign 
and  elections  in  America  would  have  an  important 
effect  on  the  prospects  of  peace.  Theodore  Wolff, 
editor  of  the  Berlin  Tageblatt,  who  was  the  Chan- 
cellor's chief  supporter  in  newspaper  circles,  be- 
gan the  publication  of  a  series  of  articles  to  ex- 
plain that  in  the  event  of  the  election  of  Charles 
E.  Hughes,  Germany  would  be  able  to  count  upon 
more  assistance  from  America  and  upon  peace. 
At  the  time  the  Allies  were  pounding  away  at  the 
Somme  and  every  effort  was  being  made  to  bring 
about  some  kind  of  peace  discussions  when  these 
battles  were  over. 

On  September  20th  a  convention  of  Socialists 
was  held  in  Berlin  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the 
Socialist  party  in  support  of  the  Chancellor.  The 
whole  country  was  watching  the  Socialist  discus- 
sions because  every  one  felt  that  the  Socialist 
party  represented  the  real  opinion  of  the  people. 
After  several  days  of  discussion  all  factional  dif- 
ferences were  patched  up  and  the  Socialists  were 
ready  to  present  a  solid  front  when  the  fight  came 
in  the  Eeichstag  on  September  28th.  On  the  27th, 
Berlin  hotels  began  to  buzz  with  excitement  over 
the  possibilities  of  overthrowing  the  Chancellor. 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     143 

The  fight  was  led  by  the  National  Liberals  and 
Centre  Party  groups.  It  was  proposed  by  Dr. 
Coerting,  an  industrial  leader  from  Hannover,  to 
move  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence  in  the  Chan- 
cellor. Coerting  was  supported  by  the  big  ammu- 
nition interests  and  by  the  von  Tirpitz  crowd. 
Before  the  Eeichstag  convened  the  Chancellor 
went  to  Great  Headquarters  for  a  final  conference 
with  the  Kaiser  and  Field  Marshal  von  Hinden- 
burg.  Before  he  left  it  looked  as  if  the  Chancellor 
would  be  overthrown.  But  when  he  returned  he 
summoned  the  Eeichstag  leaders  who  were  sup- 
porting him  and  several  editors  of  Liberal  news- 
papers. The  Chancellor  told  them  that  von  Hin- 
denburg  would  support  him.  The  next  day  edi- 
torials appeared  in  a  number  of  newspapers,  say- 
ing that  von  Hindenburg  and  the  Chancellor  were 
united  in  their  ideas.  This  was  the  most  success- 
ful strategic  move  the  Chancellor  had  made,  for 
the  public  had  such  great  confidence  in  von  Hin- 
denburg that  when  it  was  learned  that  he  was 
opposed  to  von  Tirpitz  the  backbone  of  opposition 
to  the  Chancellor  was  broken.  On  the  28th  as  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg  appeared  in  the  Keichstag,  in- 
stead of  facing  a  hostile  and  belligerent  assembly, 
he  faced  members  who  were  ready  to  support  him 
in  anything  he  did.  The  Chancellor,  however, 
realised  that  he  could  take  some  of  the  thunder 
out  of  the  opposition  by  making  a  strong  state- 
ment against  England.  "Down  with  England," 
the  popular  cry,  was  the  keynote  of  the  Chan- 


144     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

cellor's  remarks.  In  this  one  speech  he  succeeded 
in  uniting  for  a  time  at  least  public  sentiment  and 
the  political  parties  in  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

A  few  days  afterward  I  saw  Major  Basser- 
mann  at  his  office  in  the  Eeichstag  and  asked  him 
whether  the  campaign  for  an  unlimited  submarine 
warfare  would  be  resumed  after  the  action  of  the 
Eeichstag  in  expressing  confidence  in  the  Chan- 
cellor. He  said: 

"That  must  be  decided  by  the  Foreign  Office, 
the  Ministry  of  Marine  and  the  General  Staff. 
England  is  our  chief  enemy  and  we  must  recog- 
nise this  and  defeat  her." 

With  his  hands  in  his  pocket,  his  face  looking 
down,  he  paced  his  office  and  began  a  bitter  de- 
nunciation of  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States. 
I  asked  him  whether  he  favoured  the  submarine 
warfare  even  if  it  brought  about  a  break  with  the 
United  States. 

"We  wish  to  live  in  peace  and  friendship  with 
America,"  he  began,  "but  undoubtedly  there  is 
bitter  feeling  here  because  American  supplies  and 
ammunition  enable  our  enemies  to  continue  the 
war.  If  America  should  succeed  in  forcing  Eng- 
land to  obey  international  law,  restore  freedom 
of  the  seas  and  proceed  with  American  energy 
against  England's  brutalisation  of  neutrals,  it 
would  have  a  decisive  influence  on  the  political 
situation  between  the  two  countries.  If  America 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     145 

does  not  do  this  then  we  must  do  it  with  our  sub- 
marines. ' ' 

In  October  I  was  invited  by  the  Foreign  Office 
to  go  with  a  group  of  correspondents  to  Essen, 
Cologne  and  the  Rhine  Valley  Industrial  centres. 
In  Essen  I  met  Baron  von  Bodenhausen  and  other 
directors  of  Krupps.  In  Diisseldorf  at  the  In- 
dustrie Klub  I  dined  with  the  steel  magnates  of 
Germany  and  at  Homburg-on-the-Rhine  I  saw 
August  Thyssen,  one  of  the  richest  men  in  Ger- 
many and  the  man  who  owns  one-tenth  of  Ger- 
many's coal  and  iron  fields.  The  most  impressive 
thing  about  this  journey  was  what  these  men  said 
about  the  necessity  for  unlimited  warfare.  Every 
man  I  met  was  opposed  to  the  Chancellor.  They 
hated  him  because  he  delayed  mobilisation  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  They  stated  that  they  had 
urged  the  invasion  of  Belgium  because  if  Belgium 
had  not  been  invaded  immediately  France  could 
have  seized  the  Rhine  Valley  and  made  it  impos- 
sible for  Germany  to  manufacture  war  munitions 
and  thereby  to  fight  a  war.  They  said  they  were 
in  favour  of  an  unlimited,  ruthless  submarine 
warfare  against  England  and  all  ships  going  to 
the  British  Isles.  Their  opinions  were  best  rep- 
resented in  an  inspired  editorial  appearing  in  the 
Rheinische  Westfdlische  Zeitung,  in  which  it  was 
stated : 

"The  war  must  be  fought  to  a  finish.  Either 
Germany  or  England  must  win  and  the  interests 


146     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

here  on  the  Rhine  are  ready  to  fight  until  Ger- 
many wins." 

"Do  you  think  Germany  wants  war  with 
America?"  I  asked  Thyssen. 

" Never!"  was  his  emphatic  response.  " First, 
because  we  have  enemies  enough,  and,  secondly, 
because  in  peace  times,  our  relations  with  America 
are  always  most  friendly.  We  want  them  to  con- 
tinue so  after  the  war." 

Thyssen 's  remarks  could  be  taken  on  their  face 
value  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  week  before 
we  arrived  in  these  cities  General  Ludendorf,  von 
Hindenburg's  chief  assistant  and  co-worker,  was 
there  to  get  the  industrial  leaders  to  manufacture 
more  ammunition.  Von  Falkenhayn  had  made 
many  enemies  in  this  section  because  he  cut  down 
the  ammunition  manufacturing  until  these  men 
were  losing  money.  So  the  first  thing  von  Hin- 
denburg  did  was  to  double  all  orders  for  ammuni- 
tion and  war  supplies  and  to  send  Ludendorf  to 
the  industrial  centres  to  make  peace  with  the  men 
who  were  opposed  to  the  Government. 

Thus  from  May  to  November  German  politics 
went  through  a  period  of  transformation.  No  one 
knew  exactly  what  would  happen, — there  were  so 
many  conflicting  opinions.  Political  parties,  in- 
dustrial leaders  and  the  press  were  so  divided  it 
was  evident  that  something  would  have  to  be  done 
or  the  German  political  organisation  would  strike 
a  rock  and  go  to  pieces.  The  Socialists  were  still 


THE  PERIOD  OF  NEW  ORIENTATION     147 

demanding  election  reforms  during  the  war.  The 
National  Liberals  were  intriguing  for  a  Reichstag 
Committee  to  have  equal  authority  with  the  For- 
eign Office  in  dealing  with  all  matters  of  interna- 
tional affairs.  The  landowners,  who  were  losing 
money  because  the  Government  was  confiscating 
so  much  food,  were  not  only  criticising  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg  but  holding  back  as  much  food  as 
they  could  for  higher  prices.  The  industrial  lead- 
ers, who  had  been  losing  money  because  von 
Falkenhayn  had  decreased  ammunition  orders, 
were  only  partially  satisfied  by  von  Hindenburg's 
step  because  they  realised  that  unless  the  war  was 
intensified  the  Government  would  not  need  such 
supplies  indefinitely.  They  saw,  too,  that  the  atti- 
tude of  President  Wilson  had  so  injured  what 
little  standing  they  still  had  in  the  neutral  world 
that  unless  Germany  won  the  war  in  a  decisive 
way,  their  world  connections  would  disappear  for- 
ever and  they  would  be  forced  to  begin  all  over 
after  the  war.  Faced  by  this  predicament,  they 
demanded  a  ruthless  submarine  warfare  against 
all  shipping  in  order  that  not  only  England  but 
every  other  power  should  suffer,  because  the  more 
ships  and  property  of  the  enemies  destroyed  the 
more  their  chances  with  the  rest  of  the  world 
would  be  equalised  when  the  war  was  over.  Food 
conditions  were  becoming  worse,  the  people  were 
becoming  more  dissatisfied;  losses  on  the  battle- 
fields were  touching  nearly  every  family.  Depres- 


148     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

sion  was  growing.    Every  one  felt  that  something 
had  to  be  done  and  done  immediately. 

The  press  referred  to  these  months  of  turmoil 
as  a  period  of  "new  orientation."  It  was  a  time 
of  readjustment  which  did  not  reach  a  climax 
until  December  twelfth  when  the  Chancellor  pro- 
posed peace  conferences  to  the  Allies. 


WHAT  YOU  CANNOT  EAT  OR  DRINK 

FOODSTUFFS  WHICH  ABE  COMPLETELY  EXHAUSTED  IN  GERMANY 

1.  Rice.  12.  Nuts. 

2.  Coffee.  13.  Candy    (a   very   limited  num- 

3.  Tea.  her    of    persons    can    buy 

4.  Cocoa.  one-quarter     of     a     pound 

5.  Chocolate.  about  once  a  week). 

6.  Olive  oil.  14.  Malted  milk. 

7.  Cream.  15.  Beer  made  of  either  malt  or 

8.  Fruit   flavorings.  hops. 

9.  Canned  soups  or  soup  cubes.  16.  Caviar. 

10.  Syrups.  17.  Ice  cream. 

11.  Dried  vegetables,  beaus,  peas,       18.  Macaroni. 

etc. 

WHAT  YOU  MAY  EAT 
POOD  OBTAINABLE  ONLY  BY  CARDS 

1.  Bread,  1,900  grams  per  week  per  person. 

2.  Meat,  250  grams  ( *£   pound)   per  week  per  head. 

3.  Eggs,  1  per  person  every  two  weeks. 

4.  Butter,  90  grams  per  week  per  person. 

5.  Milk,  1  quart  daily  only  for  children  under  ten  and  invalids. 

6.  Potatoes,    formerly    9    pounds    per    week ;    lately    in    many    parts 

of  Germany  no  potatoes  were  available. 

7.  Sugar,    formerly    2   pounds   per   month,    now    4    pounds,   but   this 

will  not  continue  long. 

8.  Marmalade,  or  jam,  14  of  a  pound  every  month. 

9.  Noodles,  %  a  pound  per  person  a  month. 

10.  Sardines,  or  canned  fish,  small  box  per  month. 

11.  Saccharine    (a   coal   tar  product  substitute   for  sugar),  about  25 

small  tablets  a  month. 

32.  Oatmeal,  %  of  a  pound  per  month  for  adults  or  1  pound  per  month 
for  children  under  twelve  years. 

WHAT  YOU  CAN  EAT 
FOODS  WHICH  EVERY  ONE  WITH  MONEY  CAN  BUY 

1.  Geese,  costing  8  to  10  marks  per  pound  ($1.60  to  ?2  per  pound). 

2.  Wild  game,  rabbits,  ducks,  deer,  etc. 

3.  Smuggled  meat,  such  as  ham  and  bacon,  for  $2.50  per  pound. 

4.  Vegetables,  carrots,  spinach,  onions,  cabbage,   beets. 

5.  Apples,  lemons,  oranges. 

6.  Bottled  oil  made  from  seeds  and  roots  for  cooking  purposes,  cost- 

ing $5  per  pound. 

7.  Vinegar. 

8.  Fresh  fish. 

9.  Fish  sausage. 

10.  Pickles. 

11.  Duck,  chicken  and  geese  heads,  feet  and  wings. 

12.  Black   crows. 

THE   FOOD    SITUATION   AT  A   GLANCE 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   BUBBLING  ECONOMIC   VOLCANO 

WHEN  I  entered  Germany  in  1915  there  was 
plenty  of  food  everywhere  and  prices 
were  normal.  But  a  year  later  the  situa- 
tion had  changed  so  that  the  number  of  food  cards 
—Germany's  economic  barometer — had  increased 
eight  times.  March  and  April  of  1916  were  the 
worst  months  in  the  year  and  a  great  many  people 
had  difficulty  in  getting  enough  food  to  eat.  There 
was  growing  dissatisfaction  with  the  way  the  Gov- 
ernment was  handling  the  food  problem  but  the 
people's  hope  was  centred  upon  the  next  harvest. 
In  April  and  May  the  submarine  issue  and  the 
American  crisis  turned  public  attention  from 
food  to  politics.  From  July  to  October  the  Somme 
battles  kept  the  people's  minds  centred  upon  mili- 
tary operations.  While  the  scarcity  of  food  be- 
came greater  the  Government,  through  inspired 
articles  in  the  press,  informed  the  people  that  the 
harvest  was  so  big  that  there  would  be  no  more 
food  difficulties. 

Germany  began  to  pay  serious  attention  to  the 
food  situation,  when  early  in  the  year,  Adolph  von 

150 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     151 

Batocki,  the  president  of  East  Prussia  and  a  big 
land  owner,  was  made  food  dictator.  At  the  same 
time  there  were  organised  various  government 
food  departments.  There  was  an  Imperial  Bu- 
reau for  collecting  fats;  another  to  take  charge 
of  the  meat  supply;  another  to  control  the  milk 
and  another  in  charge  of  the  vegetables  and  fruit. 
Germany  became  practically  a  socialistic  state  and 
in  this  way  the  Government  kept  abreast  of  the 
growth  of  Socialism  among  the  people.  The 
most  important  step  the  Government  took  was  to 
organise  the  Zentral  Einkaufgesellschaft,  popu- 
larly known  as  the  "Z.  E.  G."  The  first  object 
of  this  organisation  was  to  purchase  food  in  neu- 
tral countries.  Previously  German  merchants 
had  been  going  to  Holland,  Switzerland  and  the 
Scandinavian  countries  to  buy  supplies.  These 
merchants  had  been  bidding  against  each  other 
in  order  to  get  products  for  their  concerns.  In 
this  way  food  was  made  much  more  expensive 
than  it  would  have  been  had  one  purchaser  gone 
outside  of  Germany.  So  the  Government  pro- 
hibited all  firms  from  buying  food  abroad.  Trav- 
elling agents  of  the  "Z.  E.  G."  went  to  these  coun- 
tries and  bought  all  of  the  supplies  available  at  a 
fixed  price.  Then  these  resold  to  German  dealers 
at  cost. 

Such  drastic  measures  were  necessitated  by  the 
public  demand  that  every  one  share  alike.  The 
Government  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  control 
the  food.  Farmers  and  rich  landowners  insisted 


152     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

upon  slaughtering  their  own  pigs  for  their  own 
use.  They  insisted  upon  eating  the  eggs  their 
chickens  laid,  or,  upon  sending  them  through  the 
mail  to  friends  at  high  prices,  thereby  evading  the 
egg  card  regulations.  But  the  Government 
stepped  in  and  farmers  were  prohibited  from 
killing  their  own  cattle  and  from  sending  foods 
to  friends  and  special  customers.  Farmers  had 
to  sell  everything  to  the  '  *  Z.  E.  G. "  That  was  an- 
other result  of  State  Socialism. 

The  optimistic*  statements  of  Herr  von  Batocki 
about  the  food  outlook  led  the  people  to  believe 
that  by  fall  conditions  would  be  greatly  improved 
but  instead  of  becoming  more  plentiful  food  sup- 
plies became  more  and  more  organised  until  all 
food  was  upon  an  absolute  ration  basis. 

"Although  the  crops  were  good  this  year,  there 
will  be  so  much  organisation  that  food  will  spoil," 
said  practically  every  German.  Batocki 's  method 
of  confiscating  food  did  cause  a  great  deal  to 
spoil  and  the  public  blamed  him  any  time  any- 
thing disappeared  from  the  market.  One  day  a 
carload  of  plums  was  shipped  from  Werder,  the 
big  fruit  district  near  Berlin,  to  the  capital.  The 
"Z.  E.  G."  confiscated  it  but  did  not  sell  the  goods 
immediately  to  the  merchants  and  the  plums 
spoiled.  Before  this  was  found  out,  a  crowd  of 
women  surrounded  the  train  one  day,  which  was 
standing  on  a  side  track,  broke  into  a  car  and 
found  most  of  the  plums  in  such  rotten  condition 
they  could  not  be  used.  So  they  painted  on  the 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     153 

sides  of  the  car:  "This  is  the  kind  of  plum  jam 
the  <Z.  E.  G.'  makes." 

There  was  a  growing  scarcity  of  all  other  sup- 
plies, too.  The  armies  demanded  every  possible 
labouring  man  and  woman  so  even  the  canning 
factories  had  to  close  and  food  which  formerly 
was  canned  had  to  be  eaten  while  fresh  or  it 
spoiled.  Even  the  private  German  family,  which 
was  accustomed  to  canning  food,  had  to  forego 
this  practice  because  of  a  lack  of  tin  cans,  jars 
and  rubber  bands. 

The  food  depots  are  by  far  the  most  successful 
undertaking  of  the  Government.  In  Cologne  and 
Berlin  alone  close  to  500,000  poor  are  being  fed 
daily  by  municipal  kitchens.  Last  October  I  went 
through  the  Cologne  food  department  with  the 
director.  The  city  has  rented  a  number  of  large 
vacant  factory  buildings  and  made  them  into 
kitchens.  Municipal  buyers  go  through  the  coun- 
try to  buy  meat  and  vegetables.  This  is  shipped 
to  Cologne,  and  in  these  kitchens  it  is  prepared  by 
women  workers,  under  the  direction  of  volunteers. 

A  stew  is  cooked  each  day  and  sold  for  42  pfen- 
nigs (about  eight  cents)  a  quart.  The  people  must 
give  up  their  potato,  fat  and  meat  cards  to  obtain 
it.  In  Berlin  and  all  other  large  cities,  the  same 
system  is  used.  In  one  kitchen  in  Berlin,  at  the 
main  market  hall,  80,000  quarts  a  day  are  pre- 
pared. 

In  Cologne  this  food  is  distributed  through  the 
city  streets  by  municipal  wagons,  and  the  people 


154     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

get  it  almost  boiling  hot,  ready  to  eat.  Were  it 
not  for  these  food  depots  there  would  be  many 
thousands  of  people  who  would  starve  because 
they  could  not  buy  and  cook  such  nourishing  food 
for  the  price  the  city  asks.  These  food  kitchens 
have  been  in  use  now  almost  a  year,  and,  while  the 
poor  are  obtaining  food  here,  they  are  becoming 
very  tired  of  the  supply,  because  they  must  eat 
stews  every  day.  They  can  have  nothing  fried  or 
roasted. 

In  addition  to  these  kitchens  the  Government 
has  opened  throughout  Germany  "mittlestand 
kueche,"  a  restaurant  for  the  middle  classes. 
Here  government  employees,  with  small  wages, 
the  poor  who  do  not  keep  house  and  others  with 
little  means  can  obtain  a  meal  for  10  cents,  con- 
sisting of  a  stew  and  a  dessert.  But  it  is  very 
difficult  for  people  to  live  on  this  food.  Most 
every  one  who  is  compelled  by  circumstances  to 
eat  here  is  losing  weight  and  feels  under-nour- 
ished all  the  time. 

A  few  months  ago,  after  one  of  my  secretaries 
had  been  called  to  the  army,  I  employed  another. 
He  had  been  earning  only  $7  a  week  and  had  to 
support  his  wife.  On  this  money  they  ate  at  the 
middle  class  cafes.  In  six  months  he  had  lost 
twenty  pounds. 

Because  the  food  is  so  scarce  and  because  it 
lacks  real  nourishment  people  eat  all  the  time. 
It  used  to  be  said  before  the  war  that  the  Ger- 
mans were  the  biggest  eaters  in  Europe — that 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     155 

they  ate  seven  meals  a  day.  The  blockade  has 
not  made  them  less  eaters,  for  they  eat  every  few 
hours  all  day  long  now,  but  because  the  food  lacks 
fats  and  sugars,  they  need  more  food. 

Eestaurants  are  doing  big  business  because 
after  one  has  eaten  a  "meal"  at  any  leading  Ber- 
lin hotel  at  1  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  one  is  hun- 
gry by  3  o'clock  and  ready  for  another  "meal." 

Last  winter  the  Socialists  of  Munich,  who  saw 
that  the  rich  were  having  plenty  of  food  and  that 
the  poor  were  existing  as  best  they  could  in  food 
kitchens,  wrote  Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg  and  demanded  the  immediate  confiscation  of 
all  food  in  Germany,  even  that  in  private  resi- 
dences. 

The  Socialists '  demand  was,  as  are  most  others, 
thrown  into  the  waste  basket  because  men  like  the 
Chancellor,  President  Batocki,  of  the  Food  De- 
partment, wealthy  bankers,  statesmen  and  army 
generals  have  country  estates  where  they  have 
stored  food  for  an  indefinite  period.  They  know 
that  no  matter  how  hard  the  blockade  pinches  the 
people  it  won't  starve  them. 

When  the  Chancellor  invites  people  to  his  pal- 
ace he  has  real  coffee,  white  bread,  plenty  of  po- 
tatoes, cake  and  meat.  Being  a  government  offi- 
cial he  can  get  what  he  wants  from  the  food  de- 
partment. So  can  other  officials.  Therefore,  they 
were  willing  to  disregard  the  demand  of  the  Ba- 
varian Socialists. 

But  the  Socialists,  although  they  don't  get  pub- 


156     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

licity  when  they  start  something,  don't  give  up 
until  they  accomplish  what  they  set  out  to  do. 
First,  they  enlisted  the  Berlin  Socialists,  and  the 
report  went  around  to  people  that  the  rich  were 
going  to  Copenhagen  and  bringing  back  food 
while  the  poor  starved.  So  the  Government  had 
to  prohibit  all  food  from  coming  into  Germany 
by  way  of  Denmark  unless  it  was  imported  by  the 
Government. 

That  was  the  first  success  of  the  Bavarian  So- 
cialists. Now  they  have  had  another.  Batocki  is 
reported  as  having  announced  that  all  food  sup- 
plies will  be  confiscated.  The  Socialists  are  re- 
sponsible. 

Excepting  the  very  wealthy  and  those  who  have 
stored  quantities  of  food  for  the  ''siege,"  every 
German  is  undernourished.  A  great  many  people 
are  starving.  The  head  physician  of  the  Kaiserin 
Augusta  Victoria  Hospital,  in  Berlin,  stated  that 
80,000  children  died  in  Berlin  in  1916  from  lack  of 
food.  The  Lokal-Anzeiger  printed  the  item  and 
the  Foreign  Office  censor  prohibited  me  from 
sending  it  to  New  York. 

But  starvation  under  the  blockade  is  a  slow 
process,  and  it  has  not  yet  reached  the  army. 
When  I  was  on  the  Somme  battlefields  last  No- 
vember and  in  Rumania  in  December  the  soldiers 
were  not  only  well  fed,  but  they  had  luxuries  which 
their  families  at  home  did  not  have.  Two  years 
ago  there  was  so  much  food  at  home  the  women 
sent  food  boxes  to  the  front.  To-day  the  soldiers 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     157 

not  only  send  but  carry  quantities  of  food  from 
the  front  to  their  homes.  The  army  has  more 
than  the  people. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  say  whether  Ger- 
many, as  a  nation,  can  be  starved  into  submission. 
Everything  depends  upon  the  next  harvest,  the 
length  of  the  war  and  future  military  operations. 
The  German  Government,  I  think,  can  make  the 
people  hold  out  until  the  coming  harvest,  unless 
there  is  a  big  military  defeat.  In  their  present 
undernourished  condition  the  public  could  not 
face  a  defeat.  If  the  war  ends  this  year  Germany 
will  not  be  so  starved  that  she  will  accept  any 
peace  terms.  But  if  the  war  continues  another 
year  or  two  Germany  will  have  to  give  up. 

I  entered  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Allied  blockade  when  one  could  purchase  any  kind 
and  any  quantity  of  food  in  Germany.  Two  years 
later,  when  I  left,  there  were  at  least  eighteen 
foodstuffs  which  could  not  be  purchased  any- 
where, and  there  were  twelve  kinds  of  food  which 
could  be  obtained  only  by  government  cards. 
That  is  what  the  Allied  blockade  did  to  the  food 
supplies.  It  made  Germany  look  like  a  grocery 
store  after  a  closing  out  sale. 

Suppose  in  the  United  States  you  wanted  the 
simplest  breakfast — coffee  and  bread  and  butter. 
Suppose  you  wanted  a  light  luncheon  of  eggs  or  a 
sandwich,  tea  and  fruit.  Suppose  for  dinner  you 
wanted  a  plain  menu  of  soup,  meat,  vegetables  and 
dessert.  At  any  grocery  or  lunch  counter  you 


158     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

could  get  not  only  these  plain  foods,  but  anything 
else  you  wanted. 

Not  so  in  Germany!  For  breakfast  you  can- 
not have  pure  coffee,  and  you  can  have  only  a 
very  small  quantity  of  butter  with  your  butter 
card.  Hotels  serve  a  coffee  substitute,  but  most 
people  prefer  nothing.  For  luncheon  you  may 
have  an  egg,  but  only  one  day  during  two  weeks. 
Hotels  still  serve  a  weak,  highly  colored  tea  and 
apples  or  oranges.  For  dinner  you  may  have 
soup  without  any  meat  or  fat  in  it.  Soups  are 
just  a  mixture  of  water  and  vegetables.  Two 
days  a  week  you  can  get  a  small  piece  of  meat 
with  a  meat  card.  Other  days  you  can  eat  boiled 
fish. 

People  who  keep  house,  of  course,  have  more 
food,  because  as  a  rule  they  have  been  storing 
supplies.  Take  the  Christian  Scientists  as  an 
instance.  Members  of  this  Church  have  organ- 
ised a  semi-official  club.  Members  buy  all  the 
extra  food  possible.  Then  they  divide  and  store 
away  what  they  want  for  the  "siege"— the  time 
when  food  will  be  scarcer  than  it  is  to-day. 

Two  women  practitioners  in  Berlin,  who  live 
together,  bought  thirty  pounds  of  butter  from  an 
American  who  had  brought  it  in  from  Copen- 
hagen. They  canned  it  and  planned  to  make  this 
butter  last  one  year.  Until  a  few  weeks  ago  peo- 
ple with  money  could  go  to  Switzerland,  Holland 
and  Denmark  and  bring  back  food  with  them, 
either  with  or  without  permission.  Some  wealthy 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     159 

citizens  who  import  machinery  and  other  things 
from  outside  neutral  countries  have  their  agents 
smuggle  food  at  the  same  time. 

While  the  Dutch,  Danish  and  Swiss  govern- 
ments try  to  stop  smuggling,  there  is  always  some 
going  through.  The  rich  have  the  money  to  bribe 
border  officers  and  inspectors.  When  I  was  in 
Diisseldorf,  last  October,  I  met  the  owner  of  a 
number  of  canal  boats,  who  shipped  coal  and  iron 
products  from  the  Rhine  Valley  to  Denmark.  He 
told  me  his  canal  barges  brought  back  food  from 
Copenhagen  every  trip  and  that  the  border  au- 
thorities were  not  very  careful  in  making  an  in- 
vestigation of  his  boats. 

In  Diisseldorf,  too,  as  well  as  in  Cologne,  busi- 
ness men  spoke  about  the  food  they  got  from 
Belgium.  They  did  not  get  great  quantities,  of 
course,  but  the  leakage  was  enough  to  enable  them 
to  live  better  than  those  who  had  to  depend  upon 
the  food  in  Germany. 

When  the  food  supplies  began  to  decrease  the 
Government  instituted  the  card  system  of  distri- 
bution. Bread  cards  had  been  very  successful,  so 
the  authorities  figured  that  meat,  butter,  potato 
and  other  cards  would  be  equally  so.  But  their 
calculations  were  wrong. 

When  potato  cards  were  issued  each  person  was 
given  nine  pounds  a  week.  But  the  potato  har- 
vest was  a  big  failure.  The  supply  was  so  much 
less  than  the  estimates  that  seed  potatoes  had  to 
be  used  to  keep  the  people  satisfied.  Even  then 


160     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

the  supply  was  short,  and  the  quantity  to  be  sold 
on  potato  cards  was  cut  to  three  pounds  a  week. 
Then  transportation  difficulties  arose,  and  pota- 
toes spoiled  before  they  reached  Berlin,  Munich, 
Hamburg,  Dresden,  Leipsic  and  other  large  cities. 

The  same  thing  happened  when  the  Government 
confiscated  the  fruit  crop  last  year. 

One  day  I  was  asked  on  the  telephone  whether 
I  wanted  to  buy  an  11-pound  ham.  I  asked  to  have 
it  sent  to  my  office  immediately.  When  it  came 
the  price  was  $2.50  a  pound.  I  sent  the  meat  back 
and  told  the  man  I  would  not  pay  such  a  price. 

' '  That 's  all  right, ' '  he  replied.  ' '  Dr.  Stein  and 
a  dozen  other  people  will  pay  me  that  price.  I 
sent  it  to  you  because  I  wanted  to  help  you  out." 

Dr.  Ludwig  Stein,  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Vossiche  Zeitung,  paid  the  price  and  ordered  all 
he  could  get  for  the  same  money. 

When  I  left  Berlin  the  Government  had  issued 
an  order  prohibiting  the  sale  of  all  canned  vege- 
tables and  fruit.  It  was  explained  that  this  food 
would  be  sold  when  the  present  supplies  of  other 
foods  were  exhausted.  There  were  in  Berlin  many 
thousand  cans,  but  no  one  can  say  how  long  such 
food  will  last. 

When  Americans  ask,  ' t  How  long  can  Germany 
hold  out?"  I  reply,  "As  long  as  the  German  Gov- 
ernment can  satisfy  the  vanity  and  stimulate  the 
nerves  of  the  people,  and  as  long  as  the  people 
permit  the  Government  to  do  the  nation's  think- 
ing." 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     161 

How  long  a  time  that  will  be  no  one  can  say. 
It  was  formerly  believed  that  whenever  a  nation 
reached  the  limit  which  Germany  has  reached  it 
would  crumple  up.  But  Germany  fails  to  crumple. 
Instead  of  breaking  up,  she  fights  harder  and 
more  desperately.  Why  can  she  do  this?  The 
answer  is  simple:  Because  the  German  people 
believe  in  their  Government  and  the  Government 
knows  that  as  long  as  it  can  convince  the  people 
that  it  is  winning  the  war  the  people  will  fight. 

Germany  is  to-day  in  the  position  of  a  man  on 
the  verge  of  a  nervous  breakdown;  in  the  posi- 
tion of  a  man  who  is  under-nourished,  who  is  de- 
pressed, who  is  weighed  down  by  colossal  bur- 
dens, who  is  brooding  over  the  loss  of  friends  and 
relatives,  but  of  a  man  who  feels  that  his  future 
health  and  happiness  depend  upon  his  ability  to 
hold  out  until  the  crisis  passes. 

If  a  physician  were  called  in  to  prescribe  for 
such  a  patient  his  first  act  would  in  all  probability 
be  to  stimulate  this  man's  hope,  to  make  him 
believe  that  if  he  would  only  "hold  out"  he  would 
pass  the  crisis  successfully.  But  no  physician 
could  say  that  his  patient  could  stand  it  for  one 
week,  a  month  or  a  year  more.  The  doctor  would 
have  to  gamble  upon  that  man's  nerves.  He 
would  have  to  stimulate  him  daily,  perhaps 
hourly. 

So  it  is  with  the  German  nation.  The  country 
is  on  the  verge  of  a  nervous  breakdown.  Men 
and  women,  business  men  and  generals,  long  ago 


162     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

lost  their  patience.  They  are  under-nourished. 
They  are  depressed,  distressed,  suffering  and 
anxious  for  peace.  It  is  as  true  of  the  Hamburg- 
American  Line  directors  as  it  is  true  of  the  officers 
at  the  front. 

There  have  been  more  cases  of  nervous  break- 
downs among  the  people  during  the  last  year  than 
at  any  time  in  Germany's  history.  There  have 
been  so  many  suicides  that  the  newspapers  are 
forbidden  to  publish  them.  There  have  been  so 
many  losses  on  the  battlefields  that  every  family 
has  been  affected  not  once,  but  two,  three  and 
four  times.  Dance  halls  have  been  closed.  Cafes 
and  hotels  must  stop  serving  meals  by  11  o'clock. 
Theatres  are  presenting  the  most  sullen  plays. 
Rumours  spread  like  prairie  fires.  One  day  Hin- 
denburg  is  dead.  Two  days  later  he  is  alive  again. 

But  the  Kaiser  has  studied  this  war  psychology. 
He  and  his  ministers  know  that  one  thing  keeps 
the  German  people  fighting — their  hope  of  ulti- 
mate victory;  their  belief  that  they  have  won 
already.  The  Kaiser  knows,  too,  that  if  the  pub- 
lic mind  is  stimulated  from  day  to  day  by  new 
victories,  by  reports  of  many  prisoners,  of  new 
territory  gained,  of  enemy  ships  torpedoed,  or  by 
promises  of  reforms  after  the  war,  the  public 
will  continue  fighting. 

So  the  Kaiser  gambles  from  day  to  day  with 
his  people's  nerves.  For  two  years  he  has  done 
this,  and  for  two  years  he  has  been  supported  by 
a  12,000,000-man-power  army  and  a  larger  army 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     163 

of  workers  and  women  at  home.  The  Kaiser  be- 
lieves he  can  gamble  for  a  long  time  yet  with  his 
people. 

Just  as  it  is  impossible  for  a  physician  to  say 
how  long  his  patient  can  be  stimulated  without 
breaking  down,  so  is  it  impossible  for  an  observer 
in  Germany  to  say  how  long  it  will  be  before  the 
break-up  comes  in  Germany. 

Many  times  during  the  war  Germany  has  been 
on  the  verge  of  a  collapse.  President  Wilson's 
ultimatum  after  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex  in  the 
English  Channel  brought  about  one  crisis.  Von 
Falkenhayn's  defeat  at  Verdun  caused  another. 
The  Somme  battle  brought  on  a  third.  General 
Brusiloff's  offensive  against  the  Austrians  upset 
conditions  throughout  the  Central  Powers.  Eu- 
mania's  declaration  of  war  made  another  crisis. 
But  Germany  passed  all  of  these  successfully. 

The  ability  of  the  German  Government  to  con- 
vince the  people  that  Wilson  was  unneutral  and 
wanted  war  caused  them  to  accept  Germany's  note 
in  the  Sussex  case.  The  defeat  at  Verdun  was 
explained  as  a  tactical  success.  The  Somme  bat- 
tles, with  their  terrible  losses,  failed  to  bring  a 
break-up  because  the  Allies  stopped  attacking  at 
the  critical  moment. 

Von  Hindenburg  as  chief  of  the  General  Staff 
of  Central  Europe  remedied  the  mistakes  of  the 
Austrians  during  Brusiloff's  attacks  by  reorgan- 
ising the  Dual  Monarchy's  army.  The  crisis 
which  Rumania's  entrance  on  the  Allies'  side 


164     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

brought  in  Germany  and  Hungary  was  forgotten 
after  von  Mackensen  took  Bucharest. 

In  each  of  these  instances  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  crisis  was  successfully  passed  by  "stimula- 
tion." The  German  mind  was  made  to  believe 
what  the  Kaiser  willed. 

But  what  about  the  future  ?  Is  there  a  bottom- 
less well  of  stimulation  in  Germany? 

Before  these  questions  can  be  answered  others 
must  be  asked:  Why  don't  the  German  people 
think  for  themselves?  Will  they  ever  think  for 
themselves? 

An  incident  which  occurred  in  Berlin  last  De- 
cember illustrates  the  fact  that  the  people  are 
beginning  to  think.  After  the  Allies  replied  to 
President  Wilson's  peace  note  the  Kaiser  issued 
an  appeal  to  the  German  people.  One  morning 
it  was  printed  on  the  first  pages  of  all  newspapers 
in  boldface  type.  When  I  arrived  at  my  office  the 
janitor  handed  me  the  morning  papers  and,  point- 
ing to  the  Kaiser's  letter,  said: 

"I  see  the  Kaiser  has  written  US  another  letter. 
You  know  he  never  wrote  to  US  in  peace  time." 

There  are  evidences,  too,  that  others  are  be- 
ginning to  think.  The  Russian  revolution  is  go- 
ing to  cause  many  Socialists  to  discuss  the  future 
of  Germany.  They  have  discussed  it  before,  but 
always  behind  closed  doors  and  with  lowered 
voices.  I  attended  one  night  a  secret  meeting  of 
three  Socialist  leaders  of  the  Reichstag,  an  editor 
of  a  Berlin  paper  and  several  business  men. 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     165 

What  they  said  of  the  Kaiser  that  night  would,  if 
it  were  published,  send  every  man  to  the  military 
firing  squad.  But  these  men  didn't  dare  speak 
that  way  in  public  at  that  time.  Perhaps  the 
Eussian  revolt  will  give  them  more  courage. 

But  the  Government  is  not  asleep  to  these 
changes.  The  Kaiser  believes  he  can  continue 
juggling  public  opinion,  but  he  knows  that  from 
now  on  it  will  be  more  difficult.  But  he  will  not 
stop.  He  will  always  hold  forth  the  vision  of  vic- 
tory as  the  reward  for  German  faithfulness.  To- 
day, for  instance,  in  the  United  States  we  hear 
very  little  about  the  German  submarine  warfare. 
It  is  the  policy  of  the  Allies  not  to  publish  all 
losses  immediately;  first  because  the  enemy  must 
not  be  given  any  important  information  if  pos- 
sible, and,  secondly,  because  losses  have  a  bad 
effect  upon  any  people. 

But  the  German  people  do  not  read  what  we  do. 
Their  newspapers  are  printing  daily  the  ship 
losses  of  the  Entente.  Submarines  are  returning 
and  making  reports.  These  reports  are  published 
and  in  a  way  to  give  the  people  the  impression 
that  the  submarine  war  is  a  success.  We  get  the 
opposite  impression  here,  but  we  are  not  in  a 
position  better  to  judge  than  the  Germans,  be- 
cause we  don 't  hear  everything. 

The  important  question,  however,  is :  What  are 
the  German  people  being  told  about  submarine 
warfare  1 

Judging  from  past  events,  the  Kaiser  and  his 


166     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Navy  are  undoubtedly  magnifying  every  sinking 
for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  the  people  into  be- 
lieving that  the  victory  they  seek  is  getting  nearer. 
The  Government  knows  that  the  public  favours 
ruthless  torpedoing  of  all  ships  bound  for  the 
enemy,  so  the  Government  is  safe  in  concluding 
that  the  public  can  be  stimulated  for  some  months 
more  by  reports  of  submarine  victory. 

Military  operations  in  the  West  are  probably 
not  arousing  the  discussion  in  Berlin  that  the 
plans  against  Russia  are.  The  Government  will 
see  to  it  that  the  press  points  regularly  to  the 
possibilities  of  a  separate  peace  with  Russia,  or 
to  the  possibility  of  a  Hindenburg  advance  against 
England  and  France. 

The  people  have  childlike  faith  in  von  Hinden- 
burg. If  Paul  von  Hindenburg  says  a  retreat  is  a 
victory  the  people  will  take  his  judgment.  But  all 
German  leaders  know  that  the  time  is  coming  when 
they  will  have  to  show  the  German  people  a  vic- 
tory or  take  the  consequences  themselves. 

Hence  it  would  not  be  surprising  if,  after  pres- 
ent military  operations  are  concluded,  either  by 
an  offensive  against  Russia  or  by  an  attack  on  the 
Western  line,  the  Chancellor  again  made  peace 
proposals.  The  Socialists  will  force  the  Chancel- 
lor to  do  it  sooner  or  later.  They  are  the  real 
power  behind  the  throne,  although  they  have  not 
enough  spunk  to  try  to  oust  the  Kaiser  and  tell 
the  people  to  do  their  own  thinking. 

A  big  Allied  military  victory  would,  of  course, 


THE  BUBBLING  ECONOMIC  VOLCANO     167 

change  everything.  Defeat  of  the  German  army 
would  mean  defeat  of  von  Hindenburg,  the  Ger- 
man god.  It  would  put  an  end  to  the  Kaiser's 
juggling  with  his  people's  nerves.  But  few  peo- 
ple in  Germany  expect  an  Entente  victory  this 
year,  and  they  believe  that  if  the  Allies  don't  win 
this  year  they  never  will  win. 

Germany  is  stronger  militarily  now  than  she 
has  been  and  Germany  will  be  able  for  many 
months  to  keep  many  Entente  armies  occupied. 
Before  the  year  is  passed  the  Entente  may  need 
American  troops  as  badly  as  France  needed  Eng- 
lish assistance  last  year.  General  von  Falken- 
hayn,  former  chief  of  the  German  General  Staff, 
told  me  about  the  same  thing  last  December,  in 
Rumania. 

''In  war,"  he  remarked,  "nothing  is  certain  ex- 
cept that  everything  is  uncertain,  but  one  thing 
I  know  is  certain :  We  will  win  the  war. ' ' 

America's  entrance,  however,  will  have  the  de- 
cisive effect.  The  Allies,  especially  the  French, 
appreciate  this.  As  a  high  French  official  re- 
marked one  day  when  Ambassador  Gerard's  party 
was  in  Paris: 

"There  have  been  two  great  moments  in  the 
war  for  France.  The  first  was  when  England  de- 
clared war  to  support  us.  The  second  was  the 
breaking  of  diplomatic  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany." 

The  Germans  don't  believe  this.  As  General 
von  Stein,  Prussian  Minister  of  War,  said,  Ger- 


168     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

many  doesn't  fear  the  United  States.  He  said 
that,  of  course,  for  its  effect  upon  the  German 
people.  The  people  must  be  made  to  believe  this 
or  they  will  not  be  able  to  hate  America  in  true 
German  fashion. 

America's  participation,  however,  will  upset 
Hindenburg's  war  plans.  American  intervention 
can  put  a  stop  to  the  Kaiser's  juggling  with  his 
people's  minds  by  helping  the  Allies  defeat  Ger- 
many. Only  a  big  military  defeat  will  shake  the 
confidence  of  the  Germans  in  the  Kaiser,  Hinden- 
burg  and  their  organised  might.  The  people  are 
beginning  to  think  now,  but  they  will  do  a  great 
deal  more  thinking  if  they  are  beaten. 

So  the  answer  to  the  question:  "How  long  can 
Germany  hold  out?"  is  really  answered  by  saying 
that  Germany  can  keep  on  until  she  is  decisively 
defeated  militarily. 


DISTURBED  by  internal  political  dissension 
and  tormented  by  lack  of  food  the  German 
ship  of  state  was  sailing  troubled  waters 
by  November,  1916.  Chancellor  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg's  speech  to  the  Reichstag  on  September 
28th  satisfied  no  one.  After  he  had  spoken  the 
only  thing  people  could  recall  were  his  words : 

"The  mighty  tasks  which  await  us  in  all  the 
domains  of  public,  social,  economic,  and  political 
life  need  all  the  strength  of  the  people  for  their 
fulfilment.  It  is  a  necessity  of  state  which  will 
triumph  over  all  obstacles  to  utilise  to  the  utmost 
those  forces  which  have  been  forged  in  the  fire  and 
which  clamour  for  work  and  creation.  A  free  path 
for  all  who  are  capable — that  must  be  our  watch- 
word. If  we  carry  it  out  freely,  without  prejudice, 
then  our  empire  goes  to  a  healthy  future. ' ' 

The  press  interpreted  this  as  meaning  that  the 
Chancellor  might  some  day  change  his  mind  about 
the  advisability  of  a  ruthless  submarine  warfare. 
Early  in  November  when  it  appeared  that  the  Al- 

169 


170     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

lies  would  not  succeed  in  breaking  through  at  the 
Somme  peace  forces  were  again  mobilised.  But 
when  various  neutral  countries  sounded  Germany 
as  to  possible  terms  they  discovered  that  Germany 
was  the  self-appointed  "victor"  and  would  con- 
sider only  a  peace  which  recognised  Germany  as 
the  dominant  power  in  Europe.  The  confidence 
of  the  army  in  the  victory  was  so  great  that  the 
following  article  was  printed  in  all  the  German 
newspapers : 

"FAITH  IN  VICTORY" 

' '  Great  Headquarters  sends  us  the  following : 
"Since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  when  enemies 
arose  on  all  sides  and  millions  of  troops  proceeded 
from  all  directions — since  then  more  than  two  long 
years  have  brought  no  more  eventful  days  than 
those  of  the  present.  The  unity  of  the  front — our 
enemies  have  prepared  it  for  a  long  time  past  with 
great  care  and  proclaimed  it  in  loud  tones.  Again 
and  again  our  unexpected  attacks  have  disturbed 
this  boldly  thought  out  plan  in  its  development, 
destroying  its  force,  but  now  at  last  something  has 
been  accomplished  that  realises  at  least  part  of 
the  intentions  of  our  enemies  and  all  their  strength 
is  being  concentrated  for  a  simultaneous  attack. 
The  victory  which  was  withheld  from  them  on  all 
the  theatres  of  war  is  to  be  accomplished  by  an 
elaborate  attack  against  the  defensive  walls  of  our 
best  blood.  The  masses  of  iron  supplied  them  by 
half  the  world  are  poured  on  our  gallant  troops 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     171 

day  and  night  with  the  object  of  weakening  their 
will  and  then  the  mass  attacks  of  white,  yellow, 
brown  and  black  come  on. - 

' i  The  world  never  experienced  anything  so  mon- 
strous and  never  have  armies  kept  up  a  resistance 
such  as  ours. 

"Our  enemies  combine  the  hunger  and  lie  cam- 
paign with  that  of  arms,  both  aimed  at  the  head 
and  heart  of  our  home.  The  hunger  campaign 
they  will  lose  as  the  troublesome  work  of  just 
an  equal  administration  and  distribution  of  the 
necessities  of  life  is  almost  complete.  And  a 
promising  harvest  has  ripened  on  our  broad  fields. 
From  the  first  day  of  the  war,  we  alone  of  all  the 
belligerent  nations  published  the  army  reports  of 
all  of  our  enemies  in  full,  as  our  confidence  in  the 
constancy  of  those  at  home  is  unlimited.  But  our 
enemies  have  taken  advantage  of  this  confidence 
and  several  times  a  day  they  send  out  war  re- 
ports to  the  world;  the  English  since  the  begin- 
ning of  their  offensive  send  a  despatch  every  two 
hours.  Each  of  these  publications  is  two  or  three 
times  as  long  as  our  daily  report  and  all  written 
in  a  style  which  has  nothing  in  common  with  mil- 
itary brevity  and  simplicity.  This  is  no  longer 
the  language  of  the  soldier.  They  are  mere  fan- 
tastic hymns  of  victory  and  their  parade  of  names 
and  of  conquered  villages  and  woods  and  stormed 
positions,  and  the  number  of  captured  guns,  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  prisoners  is  a  mockery  of 
the  truth. 


172     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"Why  is  all  this  done?  Is  it  only  intended  to 
restore  the  wearying  confidence  of  their  own 
armies  and  people  and  the  tottering  faith  of  their 
allies  1  Is  it  only  intended  to  blind  the  eagerly  ob- 
serving eye  of  the  neutrals  ?  No,  this  flood  of  tele- 
grams is  intended  to  pass  through  the  channels 
which  we  ourselves  have  opened  to  our  enemy,  and 
to  dash  against  the  heart  of  the  German  people, 
undermining  and  washing  away  our  steadfastness. 

1 '  But  this  despicable  game  will  not  succeed.  In 
the  same  manner  as  our  gallant  troops  in  the  field 
defy  superior  numbers,  so  the  German  people  at 
home  will  defy  the  enemies'  legions  of  lies,  and 
remember  that  the  German  army  reports  cannot 
tell  them  and  the  world  at  large  everything  at 
present,  but  they  never  publish  a  word  the  truth 
of  which  could  not  be  minutely  sifted.  With  proud 
confidence  in  the  concise,  but  absolutely  reliable 
publications  of  our  own  army  administration, 
Germany  will  accept  these  legions  of  enemy  re- 
ports at  their  own  value,  as  wicked  concoctions, 
attempting  to  rob  them  of  calm  and  confidence 
which  the  soldier  must  feel  supporting  him,  if  he 
joyfully  risks  his  all  for  the  protection  of  those 
at  home.  Thus  our  enemies'  legions  of  lies  will 
break  against  the  wall  of  our  iron  faith.  Our 
warriors  defy  the  iron  and  fire — those  at  home 
will  also  defy  the  floods  of  printed  paper  and  re- 
main unruffled.  The  nation  and  army  alike  are 
one  in  their  will  and  faith  in  victory." 


-n.  4.  DTtni  1915 


20.  3nl)cgang  Jrtc.  5 


Si/v\pLicissiMus 


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2(mcci!a  unb  bee  33afi£an 


<SI.  IS.«  (..t.  «,...!..  1.  Ml  Z«f<*n  »€<««?!• 


THE  POPE  TO  PRESIDENT  WILSON  —  "HOW  CAN  MY  ANGEL  FLY, 
MR.  PRESIDENT,  WHEN  YOU  ALWAYS  PUT  SHELLS  IN  HER 
POCKETS?" 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     173 

This  is  a  typical  example  of  the  kind  of  inspired 
stories  which  are  printed  in  the  German  newspa- 
pers from  time  to  time  to  keep  up  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  This  was  particularly  needed  last 
fall  because  the  people  were  depressed  and  melan- 
choly over  the  losses  at  the  Somme,  and  because 
there  was  so  much  criticism  and  dissatisfaction 
over  the  Chancellor's  attitude  towards  the  sub- 
marine warfare  and  peace.  People,  too,  were  suf- 
fering agonies  in  their  homes  because  of  the  in- 
ferior quality  of  the  food, — the  lack  of  necessary 
fats  and  sugar  which  normal  people  need  for  regu- 
lar nourishment.  The  Socialists,  who  are  in  closer 
touch  with  the  people  than  any  others,  increased 
their  demands  for  peace  while  the  National  Lib- 
erals and  the  Conservatives,  who  wanted  a  war  of 
exhaustion  against  Great  Britain,  increased  their 
agitation  for  the  submarine  warfare.  The  Chan- 
cellor was  between  two  tormentors.  Either  he  had 
to  attempt  to  make  peace  to  satisfy  the  Socialists 
and  the  people,  or  he  had  to  give  in  to  the  de- 
mands for  submarine  warfare  as  outlined  by  the 
National  Liberals.  One  day  Scheidemann  went 
to  the  Chancellor's  palace,  after  he  had  visited  all 
the  big  centres  of  Germany,  and  said  to  von  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg : 

' '  Unless  you  try  to  make  peace  at  once  the  peo- 
ple will  revolt  and  I  shall  lead  the  revolution ! ' ' 

At  the  same  time  the  industrial  leaders  of  the 
Rhine  Valley  and  the  Army  and  Navy  were  serv- 


174     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ing  notice  on  the  Government  that  there  could  not 
possibly  be  a  German  victory  unless  every  weapon 
in  Germany's  possession,  which  included  of  course 
the  submarine,  was  used  against  Germany's  so- 
called  chief  foe — England. 

Confronted  by  graver  troubles  within  Germany 
than  those  from  the  outside,  the  Chancellor  went 
to  Great  Headquarters  to  report  to  the  Kaiser 
and  to  discuss  with  von  Hindenburg  and  Luden- 
dorf  what  should  be  done  to  unite  the  German 
nation. 

While  the  Army  had  been  successful  in  Eouma- 
nia  and  had  given  the  people  renewed  confidence, 
this  was  not  great  enough  to  carry  the  people 
through  another  hard  winter. 

While  Germany  had  made  promises  to  the 
United  States  in  May  that  no  ships  would  be  sunk 
without  warning,  the  submarines  were  not  adher- 
ing very  closely  to  the  written  instructions.  The 
whole  world  was  aroused  over  Germany's  re- 
peated disregard  of  the  rules  and  practice  of  sea 
warfare.  President  Wilson  through  Ambassador 
Gerard  had  sent  nine  inquiries  to  the  Foreign 
Office  asking  for  a  report  from  Germany  on  the 
sinking  of  various  ships  not  only  contrary  to  in- 
ternational law  but  contrary  to  Germany's 
pledges.  In  an  attempt  to  ward  off  many  of  the 
neutral  indictments  of  Germany's  sea  warfare  the 
official  North  German  Gazette  published  an  expla- 
nation containing  the  following : 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     175 

"The  activity  of  our  submarines  in  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  and  White  Sea  has  led  the  press  of  the 
entire  world  to  producing  articles  as  to  the  waging 
of  cruiser  warfare  by  means  of  submarines.  In 
both  cases  it  can  be  accurately  stated  that  there 
is  no  question  of  submarine  warfare  here,  but  of 
cruiser  warfare  waged  with  the  support  of  sub- 
marines and  the  details  reported  hitherto  as  to  the 
activities  of  our  submarines  do  not  admit  of  any 
other  explanation,  in  spite  of  the  endeavours  of 
the  British  press  to  twist  and  misrepresent  facts. 
It  is  also  strictly  correct  to  state  that  the  cruiser 
warfare  which  is  being  waged  by  means  of  subma- 
rines is  in  strict  compliance  with  the  German  prize 
regulations  which  correspond  to  the  International 
Eules  laid  down  and  agreed  to  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  London  which  are  not  being  any  more 
complied  with  by  England.  The  accusations  and 
charges  brought  forward  by  the  British  press  and 
propaganda  campaign  in  connection  with  ships 
sunk,  can  be  shown  as  futile,  as  our  position  is 
both  militarily  and  from  the  standpoint  of  inter- 
national law  irreproachable.  We  do  not  sink  neu- 
tral ships  per  se,  as  was  recently  declared  in  a 
proclamation,  but  the  ammunition  transports  and 
other  contraband  wares  conducive  to  the  prolonga- 
tion of  the  war,  and  the  rights  of  defensive  meas- 
ures as  regards  this  cannot  be  denied  Germany 
any  more  than  any  other  country. 

"Based  on  this  idea,  it  is  clearly  obvious  that 
the  real  loss  of  the  destruction  of  tonnage  must  be 


176     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

attributed  to  the  supplies  sent  to  England  and 
not  to  the  attitude  displayed  by  Germany  which 
has  but  recourse  to  purely  defensive  measures. 
If  the  attitude  displayed  by  England  towards  neu- 
trals during  the  course  of  this  war  be  considered, 
the  manner  in  which  it  forced  compulsory  sup- 
plies of  contraband  goods,  etc.,  it  can  be  further 
recognised  that  England  is  responsible  for  the 
losses  in  ships,  as  it  is  owing  to  England's  attitude 
that  the  cause  is  to  be  found.  .  .  . 

"Although  England  has  hit  and  crippled  legiti- 
mate trade  to  such  an  extent,  Germany  does  not 
wish  to  act  in  the  same  manner,  but  simply  to 
stop  the  shipments  of  contraband  goods  calculated 
to  lengthen  the  war.  England  evidently  is  being 
hard  hit  by  our  defensive  submarine  measures  and 
is  therefore  doing  all  in  her  power  to  incite  pub- 
lic opinion  against  the  German  methods  of  war- 
fare and  confuse  opinion  in  neutral  countries.  .  .  . 

' '  Therefore  it  must  again  be  recalled  that  it  is : 

1 '  England,  which  has  crippled  neutral  trade ! 

"England,  which  has  rendered  the  freedom  of 
the  seas  impossible! 

"England,  which  has  extended  the  risk  of  con- 
traband wares  in  excess  of  international  agree- 
ments, and  now  raises  a  cry  when  the  same  weap- 
ons are  used  against  herself. 

"England,  which  has  compelled  the  neutrals  to 
supply  these  shipments  of  contraband  goods  cal- 
culated to  lengthen  the  war! 

"As  the  neutrals  quietly  acquiesced  when  there 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     177 

was  a  question  of  abandoning  trade  with  the  Cen- 
tral Powers  they  have  remedies  in  hand  for  the 
losses  of  ships  which  affect  them  so  deeply.  They 
need  only  consider  the  fact  that  the  German  sub- 
marines on  the  high  seas  are  able  to  prevent  war 
services  to  the  enemy  in  the  shipments  of  con- 
traband goods,  in  a  manner  that  is  both  militarily 
and  from  the  standpoint  of  international  law,  irre- 
proachable. If  they  agree  to  desist  from  the  ship- 
ment of  contraband  goods  and  cease  yielding  to 
British  pressure  then  they  will  not  have  to  com- 
plain of  losses  in  ships  and  can  retain  the  same 
for  peaceful  aims." 

This  was  aimed  especially  at  America.  Naval 
critics  did  not  permit  the  opportunity  to  pass  to 
call  to  the  attention  of  the  Government  that  Ger- 
many's promises  in  the  Sussex  case  were  only  con- 
ditional and  that,  therefore,  they  could  be  broken 
at  any  time.  The  Chancellor  was  in  a  most  difficult 
situation ;  so  was  von  Hindenburg  and  the  Kaiser. 
On  December  10th  it  was  announced  that  the 
Eeichstag  would  be  called  to  a  special  session  on 
the  twelfth  and  that  the  Chancellor  would  discuss 
the  international  situation  as  it  was  affected  by 
the  Eoumanian  campaign. 

The  meeting  of  December  12th  was  the  best  at- 
tended and  most  impressive  one  of  the  Eeichstag 
since  August  4th,  1914.  Before  the  Chancellor  left 
his  palace  he  called  the  representatives  of  the 
neutral  nations  and  handed  them  Germany's  peace 


178     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

proposal.  The  same  day  Germany  sent  to  every 
part  of  the  globe  through  her  wireless  stations, 
Germany's  note  to  the  Allies  and  the  Chancellor's 
address. 

The  world  was  astonished  and  surprised  at  the 
German  move  but  no  one  knew  whether  it  was 
to  be  taken  seriously.  Great  Britain  instructed 
her  embassies  and  legations  in  neutral  countries 
to  attempt  to  find  out  whether  the  Chancellor 
really  desired  to  make  peace  or  whether  his  state- 
ments were  to  be  interpreted  as  something  to  quiet 
internal  troubles. 

During  the  days  of  discussion  which  followed  I 
was  in  close  touch  with  the  Foreign  Office,  the 
American  Embassy  and  the  General  Staff.  The 
first  intimation  I  received  that  Germany  did  not 
expect  the  peace  plan  to  succeed  was  on  December 
14th  at  a  meeting  of  the  neutral  correspondents 
with  Lieut.  Col.  von  Haeften.  When  von  Hinden- 
burg  became  Chief  of  the  General  Staff  he  reor- 
ganised the  press  department  in  Berlin  and  sent 
von  Haeften  from  his  personal  staff  to  Berlin  to 
direct  the  press  propaganda.  As  a  student  of  pub- 
lic opinion  abroad  von  Haeften  was  a  genius  and 
was  extremely  frank  and  honest  with  the  corre- 
spondents. 

"We  have  proposed  peace  to  our  enemies,"  he 
said  to  the  correspondents,  "because  we  feel  that 
we  have  been  victorious  and  because  we  believe 
that  no  matter  how  long  the  war  continues  the 
Allies  will  not  be  able  to  defeat  us.  It  will  be  in- 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     179 

teresting  to  see  what  effect  our  proposal  has  upon 
Russia.  Reports  which  we  have  received,  coming 
from  unquestionable  sources,  state  that  internal 
conditions  in  Russia  are  desperate;  that  food  is 
scarce;  that  the  transportation  system  is  so  de- 
moralised and  that  it  will  be  at  least  eight  months 
before  Russia  can  do  anything  in  a  military  way. 
Russia  wants  peace  and  needs  peace  and  we  shall 
see  now  whether  she  has  enough  influence  upon 
England  to  compel  England  to  make  peace.  We 
are  prepared  to  go  on  with  the  war  if  the  Allies 
refuse  our  proposals.  If  we  do  we  shall  not  give 
an  inch  without  making  the  Allies  pay  such  a 
dear  cost  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  continue." 

The  Foreign  Office  was  not  optimistic  over  the 
possibilities  of  success;  officials  realised  that  the 
new  Lloyd-George  Cabinet  meant  a  stronger  war 
policy  by  Great  Britain,  but  they  thought  the  peace 
proposals  might  shake  the  British  confidence  in 
the  new  government  and  cause  the  overthrow  of 
Lloyd-George  and  the  return  of  Asquith  and  Vis- 
count Edward  Grey. 

From  all  appearances  in  Berlin  it  was  evident 
to  every  neutral  diplomat  with  whom  I  talked  that 
while  Germany  was  proclaiming  to  the  whole 
world  her  desire  for  peace  she  had  in  mind  only 
the  most  drastic  peace  terms  as  far  as  Belgium, 
certain  sections  of  northern  France,  Poland  and 
the  Balkans  were  concerned.  Neutrals  observed 
that  Germany  was  so  exalted  over  the  Roumanian 
victory  and  the  possibilities  of  that  campaign  solv- 


180     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ing  the  food  problem  that  she  was  not  only  ready 
to  defy  the  Allies  but  the  neutral  world  unless  the 
world  was  ready  to  bow  to  a  German  victory. 
There  were  some  people  in  Germany  who  realised 
that  the  sooner  she  made  peace  the  better  peace 
terms  she  could  get  but  the  Government  was  not 
of  this  opinion.  The  Allies,  as  was  expected,  defi- 
antly refused  the  Prussian  olive  branch  which  had 
been  extended  like  everything  else  from  Germany 
with  a  string  tied  to  it.  For  the  purposes  of  the 
Kaiser  and  his  Government  the  Allies'  reply  was 
exactly  what  they  wanted. 

The  German  Government  was  in  this  position: 
If  the  Allies  accepted  Germany's  proposal  it 
would  enable  the  Government  to  unite  all  factions 
in  Germany  by  making  a  peace  which  would  sat- 
isfy the  political  parties  as  well  as  the  people.  If 
the  Allies  refused,  the  German  Government  cal- 
culated that  the  refusal  would  be  so  bitter  that  it 
would  unite  the  German  people  political  organisa- 
tions and  enable  the  Government  to  continue  the 
war  in  any  way  it  saw  fit. 

Nothing  which  had  happened  during  the  year  so 
solidified  the  German  nation  as  the  Allies'  replies 
to  Berlin  and  to  President  Wilson.  It  proved  to 
the  German  people  that  their  Government  was 
waging  a  defensive  war  because  the  Allies  de- 
manded annexation,  compensation  and  guarantees, 
all  of  which  meant  a  change  in  the  map  of  Europe 
from  what  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The 
interests  which  had  been  demanding  a  submarine 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     181 

warfare  saw  their  opportunity  had  come.  They 
knew  that  as  a  result  of  the  Allies'  notes  the  public 
would  sanction  an  unrestricted  sea  warfare 
against  the  whole  world  if  that  was  necessary. 

From  December  12th  until  after  Christmas,  dis- 
cussions of  peace  filled  the  German  newspapers. 
By  January  1st  all  possibilities  of  peace  had  dis- 
appeared. The  Government  and  the  public  real- 
ised that  the  war  would  go  on  and  that  prepara- 
tions would  have  to  be  made  at  once  for  the  biggest 
campaign  in  the  history  of  the  world  in  1917. 

Throughout  the  peace  discussions  one  thing  was 
evident  to  all  Americans.  Opposition  to  Ameri- 
can intervention  in  any  peace  discussion  was  so 
great  that  the  United  States  would  not  be  able  to 
take  any  leading  part  without  being  faced  by  the 
animosity  of  a  great  section  of  Germany.  When 
it  was  stated  in  the  press  that  Joseph  C.  Grew, 
the  American  Charge  d' Affaires,  had  received  the 
German  note  and  transmitted  it  to  his  Govern- 
ment, public  indignation  was  so  great  that  the 
Government  had  to  inform  all  of  the  German  news- 
papers to  explain  that  Germany  had  not  asked  the 
United  States  to  make  peace ;  that  Germany  had  in 
fact  not  asked  any  neutrals  to  make  peace  but  had 
only  handed  these  neutrals  the  German  note  in 
order  to  get  it  officially  before  the  Allies.  At  this 
time  the  defiant  attitude  of  the  whole  nation  was 
well  expressed  in  an  editorial  in  the  Morgen  Post 
saying:  "If  Germany's  hand  is  refused  her  fist 
will  soon  be  felt  with  increased  force." 


182     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

n 

The  Conferences  at  Pless 

As  early  as  September,  1916,  Ambassador 
Gerard  reported  to  the  State  Department  that  the 
forces  demanding  an  unrestricted  submarine  cam- 
paign were  gaining  such  strength  in  Germany  that 
the  Government  would  not  be  able  to  maintain  its 
position  very  long.  Gerard  saw  that  not  only  the 
political  difficulties  but  the  scarcity  of  food  and 
the  anti- American  campaign  of  hate  were  making 
such  headway  that  unless  peace  were  made  there 
would  be  nothing  to  prevent  a  rupture  with  the 
United  States.  The  latter  part  of  December  when 
Gerard  returned  from  the  United  States  after 
conferences  with  President  Wilson  he  began  to 
study  the  submarine  situation. 

He  saw  that  only  the  most  desperate  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  Chancellor  would  be  able  to 
stem  the  tide  of  hate  and  keep  America  out  of  the 
war.  On  January  7th  the  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  Trade  in  Berlin  gave  a  dinner  to 
Ambassador  Gerard  and  invited  the  Chancellor, 
Dr.  Helfferich,  Dr.  Solf,  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs Zimmermann,  prominent  German  bankers 
and  business  men,  leading  editors  and  all  others 
who  a  few  months  before  during  the  Sussex  crisis 
had  combined  in  maintaining  friendly  relations. 
At  this  banquet  Gerard  made  the  statement,  "As 
long  as  such  men  as  Generals  von  Hindenburg  and 


On  the  Kaiser's  birthday  services  were  held  in  all 
Protestant  churches  in  Germany.  The  clergy  was  mo- 
bilised to  encourage  the  people.  On  January  29th  I  sent 
the  following  despatch  after  attending  the  impressive 
services  in  the  Berlin  Cathedral : 

"Where  one  year  ago  Dr.  Dryander,  the  quiet  white- 
haired  man  who  is  court  preacher,  pleaded  for  an  hour 
for  peace  in  the  services  marking  the  Kaiser's  birthday, 
this  year  his  sermon  was  a  fiery  defence  of  Germany's 
cause  and  a  militant  plea  for  Germany  to  steel  herself 
for  the  decisive  battle  every  one  believes  is  coming. 

"In  this  changed  spirit  he  reflected  the  sentiment  of 
the  German  people.  His  sermon  of  Saturday  has  evoked 
the  deepest  approval  everywhere. 

"  'We  know,'  he  said,  'that  before  us  is  the  decisive 
battle  which  can  be  fought  through  only  with  the  great- 
est sacrifices.  But  in  all  cases  of  the  past  God  has  helped 
us,  and  God  will  fight  for  us  to-day,  through  our  leaders 
and  our  soldiers.  We  neither  willed  nor  wanted  this 
war — neither  the  Kaiser  nor  the  people.  We  hoped  for 
peace  as  the  Kaiser  extended  his  peace  proposal,  but 
with  unheard  of  frivolity  and  insults  our  enemies  slapped 
the  back  of  the  Kaiser's  extended  hand  of  peace. 

"  'To  such  enemies  there  is  only  one  voice — that  of 
the  cannon.  We  continue  the  war  with  a  clear  con- 
science and  with  trust  in  God  that  he  will  bring  us  vic- 
tory. God  cannot — he  will  not — permit  the  German  peo- 
ple to  go  down. '  ' 

"GOD  WILL  NOT  PERMIT  THE  GERMAN  PEOPLE  TO  GO  DOWN  " 


184     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Ludendorf,  as  long  as  Admirals  von  Capelle,  von 
Holtzendorff  and  von  Mueller  headed  the  Navy 
Department,  and  the  Chancellor  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  directed  the  political  affairs  there  would 
be  no  trouble  with  the  United  States."  Gerard 
was  severely  criticised  abroad  not  only  for  this 
statement  but  for  a  further  remark  '  *  That  the  re- 
lations between  Germany  and  the  United  States 
had  never  been  better  than  they  were  to-day." 
Gerard  saw  before  he  had  been  in  Berlin  a  week 
that  Germany  was  desperate,  that  conditions  were 
getting  worse  and  that  with  no  possibilities  of 
peace  Germany  would  probably  renew  the  von 
Tirpitz  submarine  warfare.  He  chose  desperate 
means  himself  at  this  banquet  to  appeal  to  the 
democratic  forces  in  Germany  to  side  with  the 
Chancellor  when  the  question  of  a  ruthless  sub- 
marine warfare  again  came  up. 

The  German  Government,  however,  had 
planned  its  moves  months  in  advance.  Just  as 
every  great  offensive  on  the  battlefields  is 
planned,  even  to  the  finest  details,  six  months  be- 
fore operations  begin,  so  are  the  big  moves  on  the 
political  chessboard  of  Europe. 

There  are  very  few  men  in  public  life  in  Ger- 
many who  have  the  courage  of  their  convictions 
to  resign  if  their  policies  are  overruled.  Von 
Jagow,  who  was  Secretary  of  State  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  until  December,  1916,  was  one 
of  these  "few."  Because  von  Jagow  had  to  sign 
all  of  the  foolish,  explanatory  and  excusing  notes 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     185 

which  the  German  Government  sent  to  the  United 
States  he  was  considered  abroad  as  being  weak 
and  incapable.  But  when  he  realised  early  in  No- 
vember that  the  Government  was  determined  to 
renew  the  submarine  warfare  unless  peace  was 
made  von  Jagow  was  the  only  man  in  German 
public  life  who  would  not  remain  an  official  of  the 
Government  and  bring  about  a  break  with  Amer- 
ica. Zimmermann,  however,  was  a  different  type 
of  official.  Zimmermann,  like  the  Chancellor,  is 
ambitious,  bigoted,  cold-blooded  and  an  intriguer 
of  the  first  calibre.  As  long  as  he  was  Under 
Secretary  of  State  he  fought  von  Jagow  and  tried 
repeatedly  to  oust  him.  So  it  was  not  surprising 
to  Americans  when  they  heard  that  Zimmermann 
had  succeeded  von  Jagow. 

The  Gerard  banquet,  however,  came  too  late. 
The  die  was  cast.  But  the  world  was  not  to  learn 
of  it  for  some  weeks. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  the  Kaiser's  birthday, 
the  Chancellor,  Field  Marshal  von  Hindenburg, 
First  Quartermaster  General  Ludendorf,  Admi- 
rals von  Capelle,  von  Holtzendorff  and  von  Muel- 
ler and  Secretary  of  State  Zimmermann  were  in- 
vited to  Great  Headquarters  to  attend  the  Kai- 
ser's birthday  dinner. 

Ever  since  von  Hindenburg  has  been  Chief  of 
the  General  Staff  the  Grand  Chief  Headquarters 
of  the  German  Army  have  been  located  at  Pless, 
on  the  estate  of  the  Prince  of  Pless  in  Silicia. 
Previously,  the  Kaiser  had  had  his  headquarters 


186     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

here,  because  it  was  said  and  popularly  believed 
that  His  Majesty  was  in  love  with  the  beautiful 
Princess  of  Pless,  an  Englishwoman  by  birth. 
When  von  Hindenburg  took  his  headquarters  to 
the  big  castle  there,  the  Princess  was  exiled  and 
sent  to  Parkenkirchen,  one  of  the  winter  resorts 
of  Bavaria. 

On  previous  birthdays  of  the  Emperor  and 
when  questions  of  great  moment  were  debated  the 
civilian  ministers  of  the  Kaiser  were  always  in- 
vited. But  on  the  Kaiser's  birthday  in  1917  only 
the  military  leaders  were  asked.  Dr.  Helfferich, 
Minister  of  Colonies  Solf,  German  bankers  and 
business  men  as  well  as  German  shippers  were 
not  consulted.  Germany  was  becoming  so  des- 
perate that  she  was  willing  to  defy  not  only  her 
enemies  and  neutral  countries  but  her  own  finan- 
ciers and  business  men.  Previously,  when  the 
submarine  issue  was  debated  the  Kaiser  wanted 
to  know  what  effect  such  a  warfare  would  have 
upon  German  economic  and  industrial  life.  But 
this  time  he  did  not  care.  He  wanted  to  know  the 
naval  and  military  arguments. 

In  August,  1914,  when  the  Chancellor  and  a 
very  small  group  of  people  were  appealing  to  His 
Majesty  not  to  go  to  war,  the  Kaiser  sided  with 
General  von  Moltke  and  Admiral  von  Tirpitz. 
During  the  various  submarine  crises  with  the 
United  States  it  appeared  that  the  Kaiser  was 
changing — that  he  was  willing  and  ready  to  side 
with  the  forces  of  democracy  in  his  own  country. 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     187 

President  Wilson  and  Ambassador  Gerard 
thought  that  after  the  downfall  of  von  Tirpitz  and 
von  Falkenhayn  the  Kaiser  would  join  hands  with 
the  reform  forces.  But  in  1917  when  the  final  de- 
cision came  the  Kaiser  cast  his  lot  with  his  gen- 
erals against  the  United  States  and  against  de- 
mocracy in  Germany.  The  Chancellor,  who  had 
impressed  neutral  observers  as  being  a  real  leader 
of  democracy  in  Germany,  sided  with  the  Kaiser. 
Thus  by  one  stroke  the  democratic  movement 
which  was  under  way  in  Germany  received  a  rude 
slap.  The  man  the  people  had  looked  upon  as  a 
friend  became  an  enemy. 

rn 
The  Break  in  Diplomatic  Relations 

On  January  30th  the  German  Government  an- 
nounced its  blockade  of  all  Allied  coasts  and  stated 
that  all  shipping  within  these  waters,  except  on 
special  lanes,  would  be  sunk  without  notice.  Ger- 
many challenged  the  whole  world  to  stay  off  of 
the  ocean.  President  Wilson  broke  diplomatic  re- 
lations immediately  and  ordered  Ambassador  Ge- 
rard to  return  home.  Gerard  called  at  the  For- 
eign Office  for  his  passports  and  said  that  he  de- 
sired to  leave  at  once.  Zimmermann  informed  him 
that  as  soon  as  the  arrangements  for  a  train  could 
be  made  he  could  leave.  Zimmermann  asked  the 
Ambassador  to  submit  a  list  of  persons  he  desired 


188     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

to  accompany  him.  The  Ambassador's  list  was 
submitted  the  next  day.  The  Foreign  Office  sent 
it  to  the  General  Staff,  but  nearly  a  week  passed 
before  Gerard  was  told  he  could  depart  and  then 
he  was  instructed  that  the  American  consuls  could 
not  accompany  him,  but  would  have  to  take  a  spe- 
cial train  leaving  Munich  a  week  or  two  later. 
American  correspondents,  who  expressed  a  desire 
to  accompany  the  Ambassador,  were  refused  per- 
mission. In  the  meantime  reports  arrived  that 
the  United  States  had  confiscated  the  German 
ships  and  Count  Montgelas,  Chief  of  the  Ameri- 
can division  of  the  Foreign  Office,  informed  Ge- 
rard the  American  correspondents  would  be  held 
as  hostages  if  America  did  this.  Gerard  replied 
that  he  would  not  leave  until  the  correspondents 
and  all  other  Americans  were  permitted  to  leave 
over  any  route  they  selected.  Practically  all  of 
the  correspondents  had  handed  in  their  passports 
to  the  Foreign  Office,  but  not  until  four  hours  be- 
fore the  special  train  departed  for  Switzerland 
were  the  passports  returned.  When  Gerard  asked 
the  Foreign  Office  whether  his  passports  were 
good  to  the  United  States  the  Foreign  Office  was 
silent  and  neither  would  the  General  Staff  guar- 
antee the  correspondents  a  safe  conduct  through 
the  German  submarine  zone.  So  the  only  thing 
the  Ambassador  could  do  was  to  select  a  route 
via  Switzerland,  France  and  Spain,  to  Cuba  and 
the  United  States. 


PEACE  DRIVE  OF  DECEMBER  12TH     189 

The  train  which  left  Berlin  on  the  night  of 
February  10th  carried  the  happiest  group  of 
Americans  which  had  been  in  Europe  since  the 
war  began.  Practically  no  one  slept.  "When  the 
Swiss  border  was  reached  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  hung  from  the  car  windows  and  Americans 
breathed  again  in  a  free  land.  They  felt  like 
prisoners  escaping  from  a  penitentiary.  Most  of 
them  had  been  under  surveillance  or  suspicion  for 
months.  Nearly  every  one  had  had  personal  ex- 
periences which  proved  to  them  that  the  German 
people  were  like  the  Government — there  was  no 
respect  for  public  sentiment  or  moral  obligation. 
Some  of  the  women  had  upon  previous  occasions, 
when  they  crossed  the  German  frontier,  submit- 
ted to  the  most  inhuman  indignities,  but  they  re- 
mained in  Germany  because  their  husbands  were 
connected  in  some  way  with  United  States  gov- 
ernment or  semi-public  service  work.  They  were 
delighted  to  escape  the  land  where  everything  is 
"verboten"  except  hatred  and  militarism.  The 
second  day  after  Gerard's  arrival  in  Berne,  Amer- 
ican Minister  Stoval  gave  a  reception  to  the  Am- 
bassador and  invited  the  Allied  diplomats.  From 
that  evening  on  until  he  sailed  from  Coruiia, 
Spain,  the  Ambassador  felt  that  he  was  among 
friends.  When  the  Americans  accompanying  the 
Ambassador  asked  the  French  authorities  in 
Switzerland  for  permission  to  enter  France  the 
French  replied: 


190     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"Of  course  you  can  go  through  France.  You 
are  exiles  and  France  welcomes  you." 

After  the  Americans  arrived  in  Paris  they  said 
they  were  not  considered  exiles  but  guests. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   BEENHAKDI   OF   THE   SEAS 

AFTER  the  break  in  diplomatic  relations  the 
slogan  of  German  Militarism  became: 
"Win  or  lose,  we  must  end  the  war." 

To  many  observers  it  seemed  to  be  insanity  cou- 
pled with  desperation  which  caused  the  Kaiser  to 
defy  the  United  States.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
Germany  was  desperate,  economically,  morally 
and  militarily.  While  war  had  led  German 
armies  far  into  enemy  territory,  it  had  destroyed 
German  influence  throughout  the  world;  it  had 
lost  Germany's  colonies  and  Pacific  possessions 
and  it  had  turned  the  opinion  of  the  world  against 
Germany.  But  during  the  time  Germany  was  try- 
ing to  impress  the  United  States  with  its  sincerity 
after  the  Sussex  incident  the  German  Navy  was 
building  submarines.  It  was  not  building  these 
ships  to  be  used  in  cruiser  warfare.  It  was  build- 
ing them  for  the  future,  when  submarine  war 
would  be  launched  on  a  big  scale,  perhaps  on  a 
bigger  scale  than  it  had  ever  before  been  con- 
ducted. 

After  the  new  blockade  of  the  Allied  Coast  was 
proclaimed,  effective  Feb.  1,  1917,  some  explana- 

191 


192     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

tion  had  to  be  made  to  convince  the  public  that 
the  submarine  war  would  be  successful  and  would 
bring  the  victory  which  the  people  had  been  prom- 
ised. The  public  was  never  informed  directly 
what  the  arguments  were  which  convinced  the 
Kaiser  that  he  could  win  the  war  by  using  sub- 
marines. But  on  the  9th  of  February  there  ap- 
peared a  small  book  written  by  Bear  Admiral 
Hollweg  entitled:  "Unser  Becht  auf  den  Uboot- 
krieg."  (Our  Bight  in  Submarine  Warfare.)  The 
manuscript  of  this  book  was  concluded  on  the 
15th  of  January,  which  shows  that  the  data  which 
it  contained  and  the  information  and  arguments 
presented  were  those  which  the  Admiralty  placed 
before  the  Kaiser  on  his  birthday.  The  points 
which  Bear  Admiral  Hollweg  makes  in  his  book 
are: 

1.  America's  unfriendly  neutrality  justifies  a 
disregard  of  the  United  States ; 

2.  The  loss  of  merchant  ships  is  bringing  about 
a  crisis  in  the  military  and  economic  conditions  of 
the  Allies; 

3.  England,  as  the  heart  of  the  Entente,  must  be 
harmed  before  peace  can  be  made; 

4.  Submarines  can  and  must  end  the  war. 
This  book  is  for  the  German  people  a  naval 

text  book  as  General  von  Bernhardi's  book,  "Ger- 
many and  the  Next  War,"  was  a  military  text 
book.  Bernhardi's  task  was  to  school  Germany 
into  the  belief  in  the  unbeatableness  of  the  Ger- 
man army.  Hollweg 's  book  is  to  teach  the  Ger- 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       193 

man  people  what  their  submarines  will  accom- 
plish and  to  steal  the  people  for  the  plans  her 
military  leaders  will  propose  and  carry  through 
on  this  basis. 

The  keynote  of  Hollweg's  arguments  is  taken 
from  the  words  of  the  German  song:  "Der  Gott 
der  Eisen  wachsen  Liesz,"  written  by  Ernst  Mo- 
ritz  Arndt.  Hollweg  quotes  this  sentence  on  page 
23: 

"Lieber  ein  Ende  mit  Schrecken,  als  ein  Schrecken 
ohne  Ende." 

("Rather  an  end  with  Terror  than  Terror  with- 
out End.") 

In  the  chapter  on  "The  Submarine  War  and 
Victory"  the  writer  presents  the  following  table: 
Status  of  merchant  ships  in  1914 : 

Sunk  or 

Captured  Percentage 
England  (Exclusive  of  colo- 
nies)        19,256,766         2,977,820  15.5 

France     2,319,438            376,360  16.2 

Eussia   1,053,818           146,168  13.8 

Italy    1,668,296           314,290  18.8 

Belgium     352,124              32,971  9.3 

Japan    1,708,386             37,391  0.22 

(Figures  for  Dec.  1916  estimated) 

The  World  Tonnage  at  beginning  of  war  was . .  .  49,089,553 
Added  1914-16  by  new  construction 2,000,000 

51,089,553 


194     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Of  this  not  useable  are: 

Tonnage  Germany  . . .  5,459,296 

Austria     . . .  1,055,719 

Turkey      . . .  133,158 

In  Germany  and  Tur- 
key   held    enemy 

shipping     200,000 

Ships  in  U.  S.  A 2,352,764 

Locked  in  Baltic  and 

Black  Sea   700,000 

Destroyed  enemy  ton- 
nage     3,885,000 


Total    13,785,937 

Destroyed  neutral  ton- 
nage (estimated)  . .        900,000 


14,685,937 


Eequisitioned  by  en- 
emy countries  for 
war  purposes,  trans- 
ports, etc. 

England     9,000,000 

France   1,400,000 

Italy 1,100,000 

Russia    400,000 

Belgium 250,000 


12,150,000 


26,835,937 


Eemaining  for  world  freight  transmission  still 

useable  at  the  beginning  of  1917 24,253,615  tons 

To  the  Entente  argument  that  Germany  has  not 
considered  the  speedy  construction  of  merchant 
ships  during  war  time  the  author  replies  by  citing 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       195 

Lloyd's  List  of  December  29,  1916,  which  gave 
the  following  tonnage  as  having  been  completed 
in  British  wharves: 

1913  1,977,000  tons 

1914  1,722,000  " 

1915  649,000  " 

1916  582,000  " 

"  These  figures  demonstrate  that  England, 
which  is  the  leader  of  the  world  as  a  freight  car- 
rier is  being  harmed  the  most."  Admiral  Holl- 
weg  cites  these  figures  to  show  that  ship  construc- 
tion has  decreased  in  England  and  that  England 
cannot  make  good  ship  losses  by  new  construc- 
tion. 

On  page  17  Bear  Admiral  Hollweg  says : 

1  'We  are  conducting  to-day  a  war  against  enemy 
merchant  vessels  different  from  the  methods  of 
former  wars  only  in  part  by  ordinary  warships. 
The  chief  method  is  by  submarines  based  upon, 
the  fundamentals  of  international  law  as  dictated 
by  German  prize  court  regulations.  The  German 
prize  regulations  were  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  based  upon  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
London  Declaration  and  respected  the  modern 
endeavours  of  all  civilised  states  to  decrease  the 
terrors  of  war.  These  regulations  of  sea  laws 
were  written  to  decrease  the  effects  of  the  un- 
avoidable consequences  of  sea  warfare  upon  non- 
combatants  and  neutrals.  As  far  as  there  have 


196     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

been  changes  in  the  regulations  of  the  London 
Declaration  during  the  war,  especially  as  far  as 
changes  in  the  contraband  list  have  been  extended, 
we  Germans  have  religiously  followed  the  prin- 
ciple set  by  the  English  of, '  an  eye  for  an  eye  and 
a  tooth  for  a  tooth.' 

On  page  19  he  states : 

"Americans  would  under  no  circumstances,  not 
even  to-day,  if  they  were  faced  by  a  superior  sea 
power  in  war,  refuse  to  follow  this  method  of 
warfare  by  the  ruthless  use  of  pirate  ships.  May 
our  submarine  campaign  be  an  example  for  them ! 
The  clever  cruiser  journey  of  U-53  off  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  gave  them  clearly  to  understand  what 
this  method  was.  Legally  they  cannot  complain 
of  this  warfare.  The  other  neutrals  cannot  com- 
plain either  against  such  sea  warfare  because  they 
have  ever  since  the  Middle  Ages  recognised  the 
English  method  of  sea  warfare." 

In  the  chapter  entitled  "The  Opponent,"  on 
page  27  the  author  says: 

"Before  there  is  a  discussion  of  our  legal  right 
to  the  submarine  warfare  a  brief  review  of  the 
general  policies  of  our  opponents  during  the  war 
will  be  given.  This  account  shall  serve  the  pur- 
pose of  fortifying  the  living  feeling  within  us  of 
our  natural  right  and  of  our  duty  to  use  all  weap- 
ons ruthlessly. 


Kriegs-Chronik  der 


Meggendorfer-Blatter 


®et  neat  3Bcttermanttl 


THE  NEW  WEATHER  CAPE 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       197 

"If  we  did  not  know  before  the  publication  of 
the  Entente  Note  [The  Allies'  peace  reply  to 
Germany]  what  we  were  up  against,  now  we 
know.  The  mask  fell.  Now  we  have  confirmation 
of  the  intentions  to  rob  and  conquer  us  which 
caused  the  individual  entente  nations  to  league  to- 
gether and  conduct  the  war.  The  neutrals  will 
now  see  the  situation  more  clearly.  For  us  it  is 
war,  literally  to  be  or  not  to  be  a  German  nation. 
Never  did  such  an  appeal  [The  Entente  Note] 
find  such  a  fruitful  echo  in  German  hearts.  .  .  . 

•      •  •  •  •  •  • 

"I  begin  with  England,  our  worst  enemy. " 

On  page  31  Admiral  Hollweg  speaks  of  the  fact 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  many  Germans, 
especially  those  in  banking  and  business  circles, 
felt  that  Germany  was  so  indispensable  to  Eng- 
land in  peace  time  that  England  would  not  con- 
duct a  war  to  "knock  out"  Germany.  But  Holl- 
weg says  the  situation  has  now  changed. 

On  pages  122  to  126  he  justifies  the  ruthless 
submarine  warfare  in  the  following  way : 

"It  is  known  that  England  and  her  allies  de- 
clared at  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  they  would 
adhere  to  the  Declaration  of  London.  It  is  just 
as  well  known  that  England  and  the  Allies 
changed  this  declaration  through  the  Orders  in 
Council  and  other  lawless  statements  of  authority 
until  the  declaration  was  unrecognisable  and 


198     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

worthless — especially  the  spirit  and  purpose  of 
the  agreement  were  flatly  pushed  aside  until  prac- 
tically nothing  more  remains  of  the  marine  laws 
as  codified  in  1909.  The  following  collection  of 
flagrant  breaches  of  international  law  will  show 
who  first  broke  marine  laws  during  the  war. 

"Ten  gross  violations  of  marine  law  in  war 
time  by  England. 

"1.  Violation  of  Article  IV  of  the  Maritime 
Declaration  of  April  16th,  1855.  Blockading  of 
neutral  harbours  in  violation  of  international  law. 

' '  2.  Violation  of  Article  II  of  the  same  declara- 
tions by  the  confiscation  of  enemy  property  aboard 
neutral  ships.  See  Order  in  Council,  March  llth, 
1915. 

"3.  Declaration  of  the  North  Sea  as  a  war 
zone.  British  Admiralty  Declaration,  November 
3,  1914. 

"4.  England  regarded  food  as  contraband 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  starvation 
war.  England  confiscated  neutral  food  en  route 
to  neutral  states  whenever  there  was  a  possibility 
that  it  would  reach  the  enemy.  This  violated  the 
recognised  fundamental  principles  of  the  freedom 
of  the  seas. 

"5.  Attempt  to  prevent  all  communications  be- 
tween Germany  and  neutral  countries  through  the 
violation  of  international  law  and  the  seizing  of 
mail. 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       199 

"6.  Imprisonment  of  German  reservists  aboard 
neutral  ships. 

' '  7.  a.  Violation  of  Article  I  of  The  Hague  Con- 
vention by  the  confiscation  of  the  German  hospital 
ship  Ophelia,  b.  Murdering  of  submarine  crew 
upon  command  of  British  auxiliary  cruiser  Bara- 
long.  c.  Violation  of  Article  XXIX,  No.  1,  of 
London  Declaration  by  preventing  American  Red 
Cross  from  sending  supplies  to  the  German  Red 
Cross. 

"8.  a.  Destruction  of  German  cruisers  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  der  Grosse  in  Spanish  territorial  waters 
by  English  cruiser  Highflyer,  b.  Destruction  of 
German  cruiser  Dresden  in  Chinese  waters  by 
British  cruiser  Glasgow,  c.  Attack  of  British 
warships  on  German  ship  Paklas  in  Norwegian 
waters. 

"9.  England  armed  her  merchant  ships  for  at- 
tack. 

"10.  Use  of  neutral  flags  and  signs  by  British 
merchantmen  in  violation  of  Articles  II  and  III 
of  the  Paris  Declaration." 

On  page  134,  after  discussing  the  question  of 
whether  the  English  blockade  has  been  effective 
and  arguing  that  England  by  seizing  neutral  ships 
with  food  on  the  supposition  that  the  food  was 
going  to  Germany,  he  says : 

"We  may  conclude  from  these  facts  that  we 
Germans  can  now  consider  ourselves  freed  from 


200     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

the  uncomfortable  conditions  of  the  London  Dec- 
laration and  may  conduct  the  war  as  our  own  in- 
terests prescribe.  We  have  already  partially 
done  this  in  as  much  as  we  followed  the  English 
example  of  extending  the  lists  of  war  contraband. 
This  has  been  inconvenient  for  the  neutrals  af- 
fected and  they  have  protested  against  it.  We 
may,  however,  consider  that  they  will  henceforth 
respect  our  proposals  just  as  they  have  in  the 
past  accepted  English  interests.  England  de- 
manded from  them  that  they  assist  her  because 
England  was  fighting  for  the  future  of  neutrals 
and  of  justice.  We  will  take  this  principle  also 
as  basis  for  what  we  do  and  even  await  thereby 
that  we  will  compel  England  to  grant  us  the  kind 
of  peace  which  can  lay  new  foundations  for  sea 
warfare  and  that  for  the  future  the  military  acts 
of  belligerents  against  neutrals  will  not  be  car- 
ried to  the  extremes  they  have  been  for  centuries 
because  of  England's  superior  sea  power.  This 
new  era  of  civilised  warfare  we  bring  under  the 
term  'freedom  of  the  seas.'  ' 

Hollweg's  next  justification  of  the  unlimited 
submarine  warfare  is  that  Secretary  of  State 
Lansing  in  a  note  to  Count  von  Bernstorff  at  first 
said  merchant  ships  could  not  be  armed  and  then 
changed  his  mind. 

On  page  160  Hollweg  says :  '  *  And  now  in  dis- 
cussing the  question  of  the  legal  position  of  the 
submarine  as  a  warship  I  cite  here  the  statements 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       201 

of  the  German  authority  on  international  law, 
Professor  Dr.  Niemeyer,  who  said:  'There  can 
be  absolutely  no  question  but  that  the  submarine 
is  permitted.  It  is  a  means  of  war  similar  to 
every  other  one.  The  frightfulness  of  the  weapon 
was  never  a  ground  of  condemnation.  This  is  a 
war  in  which  everything  is  permitted,  which  is  not 
forbidden.'  " 

On  page  175  in  the  chapter  entitled  "The  Sub- 
marine War  and  Victory"  the  author  says: 

"Every  great  deed  carries  with  it  a  certain 
amount  of  risk.  After  the  refusal  of  our  peace 
proposal  we  have  only  the  choice  of  victory  with 
the  use  of  all  of  our  strength  and  power,  or,  the 
submission  to  the  destructive  conditions  of  our 
opponents." 

He  adds  that  his  statements  shall  prove  to  the 
reader  that  Germany  can  continue  the  hard  re- 
lentless battle  with  the  greatest  possibility  and 
confidence  of  a  final  victory  which  will  break  the 
destructive  tendencies  of  the  Entente  and  guar- 
antee a  peace  which  Germany  needs  for  her  fu- 
ture existence. 

On  page  193  he  declares:  "All  food  prices  in 
England  have  increased  on  the  average  80  %  in 
price,  they  are  for  example  considerably  higher 
in  England  than  in  Germany.  A  world  wide  crop 
failure  in  Canada  and  Argentine  made  the  im- 
portation of  food  for  England  more  difficult. 


202     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"England  earns  in  this  war  as  opposed  to  other 
wars,  nothing.  Part  of  her  industrial  workers  are 
under  arms,  the  others  are  working  in  making 
war  munitions  for  her  own  use,  not,  however,  for 
the  export  of  valuable  wares." 

Admiral  Hollweg  has  a  clever  theory  that  the 
German  fleet  has  played  a  prominent  role  in  the 
war,  although  most  of  the  time  it  has  been  hug- 
ging the  coasts  of  the  Fatherland.  He  declares 
that  the  fleet  has  had  a  "distance  effect"  upon 
the  Allies'  control  of  the  high  seas.  On  page  197 
he  says: 

"What  I  mean  in  extreme  by  'fernwirkung' 
[distance  effect]  I  will  show  here  by  an  example. 
The  English  and  French  attack  on  Constantino- 
ple failed.  It  can  at  least  be  doubted  whether  at 
that  time  when  the  connection  between  Germany 
and  Turkey  was  not  established  a  strong  Eng- 
lish naval  unit  would  have  brought  the  attack  suc- 
cess. The  necessity  of  not  withdrawing  the  Eng- 
lish battleships  from  the  North  Sea  prevented 
England  from  using  a  more  powerful  unit  at  Con- 
stantinople. To  this  extent  the  German  battle  fleet 
was  not  without  influence  in  the  victory  for  the 
defender  of  Constantinople.  That  is  *  distance 
effect.'  " 

On  page  187  Hollweg  declares:  "England  not 
only  does  not  make  money  to-day  by  war  but  she 
is  losing.  The  universal  military  service  which 


5oo,ooo 


15 


>WY  ju«  JULY 


19 


16 


37S,ooo 


Boo.oco 


1.So,ooo 


1.26,000 


17.6,000 


loo,ooo 


V 


2-v 


3.6,000 


CHART   SHOWING  TONNAGE  OF   SHIPS   SUNK   BY   GERMAN 
SUBMARINES    FROM    REAR   ADMIRAL    HOLWEG'S    BOOK 

—  SUNK  BY   SUBMARINE 
BY  RAIDERS 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       203 

she  was  forced  to  introduce  in  order  to  hold  the 
other  Allies  by  the  tongue  draws  from  her  indus- 
try and  thereby  her  commerce,  3,500,000  workmen. 
Coal  exportation  has  decreased.  During  the 
eleven  months  from  January  to  November,  1916, 
4,500,000  tons  less  coal  was  exported  than  in  1915. 
In  order  to  produce  enough  coal  for  England  her- 
self the  nation  was  compelled  by  the  munitions 
obligation  law  to  put  miners  to  work." 
On  page  223  the  author  declares : 

"That  is,  therefore,  the  great  and  important 
role  which  the  submarines  in  this  war  are  play- 
ing. They  are  serving  also  to  pave  the  way  in 
the  future  for  the  'freedom  of  the  seas.'  " 

He  adds  that  the  submarines  will  cut  the  thread 
which  holds  the  English  Damocles'  sword  over 
weak  sea  powers  and  that  for  eternity  the  ''grue- 
some hands ' '  of  English  despotism  will  be  driven 
from  the  seas. 

Germany's  submarine  warfare  which  was  intro- 
duced in  February,  1915,  began  by  sinking  less 
than  50,000  tons  of  ships  per  month.  By  Novem- 
ber, 1915,  the  amount  of  tonnage  destroyed  per 
month  was  close  to  200,000  tons.  By  January, 
1916,  the  tonnage  of  ships  destroyed  by  subma- 
rines had  fallen  to  under  100,000  tons.  In  April, 
1916,  as  Grand  Admiral  von  Tirpitz'  followers 
made  one  more  effort  to  make  the  submarine  war- 
fare successful,  nearly  275,000  tons  were  being  de- 


204     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

stroyed  a  month.  But  after  the  sinking  of  the 
Sussex  and  the  growing  possibilities  of  war  with 
the  United  States  the  submarine  warfare  was 
again  held  back  and  in  July  less  than  125,000  tons 
of  shipping  were  destroyed. 

At  this  time,  however,  the  submarine  campaign 
itself  underwent  a  change.  Previously  most  of 
the  ships  destroyed  were  sunk  off  the  coast  of 
England,  France  or  in  the  Mediterranean.  Dur- 
ing the  year  and  a  half  of  the  submarine  cam- 
paign the  Allies'  method  of  catching  and  destroy- 
ing submarines  became  so  effective  it  was  too  cost- 
ly to  maintain  submarine  warfare  in  belligerent 
waters.  The  German  Navy  had  tried  all  kinds  of 
schemes  but  none  was  very  successful.  After 
the  sinking  of  the  Ancona  the  Admiralty  planned 
for  two  submarines  to  work  together,  but  this 
was  not  as  successful  as  it  might  have  been.  Dur- 
ing May,  June  and  July  the  submarine  warfare 
was  practically  given  up  as  the  losses  of  ships 
during  those  months  will  show.  There  was  a 
steep  decline  from  a  quarter  of  a  million  tons  in 
April  to  less  than  140,000  tons  in  May,  about  125,- 
000  tons  in  June  and  not  much  more  than  100,000 
tons  in  July. 

During  these  three  months  the  Navy  was  being 
bitterly  criticised  for  its  inactivity.  But  as  the 
events  six  months  later  will  show  the  German 
navy  simply  used  these  months  to  prepare  for  a 
much  stronger  submarine  campaign  which  was  to 
begin  in  August.  By  this  time  it  was  decided, 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       205 

however,  not  to  risk  a  submarine  campaign  off 
the  Allied  coasts  but  to  operate  in  the  Atlantic, 
off  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Norway.  This  method 
of  submarine  warfare  proved  very  successful  and 
by  November,  1916,  Germany  was  sinking  over 
425,000  tons  of  ships  per  month. 

During  this  swell  in  the  success  of  the  subma- 
rine campaign  the  U-53  was  despatched  across  the 
Atlantic  to  operate  off  the  United  States  coasts. 

U-53  was  sent  here  for  two  purposes :  First,  it 
was  to  demonstrate  to  the  American  people  that, 
in  event  of  war,  submarines  could  work  terror  off 
the  Atlantic  coast.  Second,  it  was  to  show  the 
naval  authorities  whether  their  plans  for  an  at- 
tack on  American  shipping  would  be  practical. 
U-53  failed  to  terrorise  the  United  States,  but  it 
proved  to  the  Admiralty  that  excursions  to  Amer- 
ican waters  were  feasible. 

On  February  1,  when  the  Kaiser  defied  the 
United  States  by  threatening  all  neutral  shipping 
in  European  waters,  Germany  had  four  hundred 
undersea  boats  completed  or  in  course  of  con- 
struction. This  included  big  U-boats,  like  the 
U-53,  with  a  cruising  radius  of  five  thousand 
miles,  and  the  smaller  craft,  with  fifteen-day  ra- 
dius, for  use  against  England,  as  well  as  supply 
ships  and  mine  layers.  But  not  all  these  were 
ready  for  use  against  the  Allies  and  the  United 
States  at  that  time.  About  one  hundred  were 
waiting  for  trained  crews  or  were  being  com- 
pleted in  German  shipyards. 


206     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

It  was  often  said  in  Berlin  that  the  greatest 
loss  when  a  submarine  failed  to  return  was  the 
crew.  It  required  more  time  to  train  the  men 
than  to  build  the  submarine.  According  to  Ger- 
many's new  method  of  construction,  a  submarine 
can  be  built  in  fifteen  days.  Parts  are  stamped 
out  in  the  factories  and  assembled  at  the  wharves. 
But  it  takes  from  sixty  to  ninety  days  to  educate 
the  men  and  get  them  accustomed  to  the  seasick 
motion  of  the  U-boats.  Besides,  it  requires  ex- 
perienced officers  to  train  the  new  men. 

To  meet  this  demand  Germany  began  months 
ago  to  train  men  who  could  man  the  newest  sub- 
marines. So  a  school  was  established — a  School 
of  Submarine  Murder — and  for  many  months  the 
man  who  torpedoed  the  Lusitania  was  made  chief 
of  the  staff  of  educators.  It  was  a  new  task  for 
German  kultur. 

For  the  German  people  the  lessons  of  the  Lusi- 
tania have  been  exactly  opposite  those  normal 
people  would  learn.  The  horror  of  non-combat- 
ants going  down  on  a  passenger  liner,  sunk  with- 
out warning,  was  nothing  to  be  compared  to  the 
heroism  of  aiming  the  torpedo  and  running  away. 
Sixty-eight  million  Germans  think  their  subma- 
rine officers  and  crews  are  the  greatest  of  the 
great. 

When  the  Berlin  Foreign  Office  announced, 
after  the  sinking  of  the  Sussex,  that  the  ruthless 
torpedoing  of  ships  would  be  stopped  the  German 
statesmen  meant  this  method  would  be  discontin- 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       £07 

ued  until  there  were  sufficient  submarines  to  defy 
the  United  States.  At  once  the  German  navy, 
which  has  always  been  anti-American,  began 
building  submarines  night  and  day.  Every  one  in 
the  Government  knew  the  time  would  come  when 
Germany  would  have  to  break  its  Sussex  pledge. 

The  German  navy  early  realised  the  need  for 
trained  men,  so  it  recalled,  temporarily,  for  edu- 
cational work  the  man  who  sank  the  Lusitania. 

"But,  who  sank  the  Lusitania  f"  you  ask. 

"The  torpedo  which  sank  the  Lusitania  and 
killed  over  one  hundred  Americans  and  hundreds 
of  other  noncombatants  was  fired  by  Oberleutnant 
zur  See  (First  Naval  Lieutenant)  Otto  Stein- 
brink,  commander  of  one  of  the  largest  German 
submarines." 

"Was  he  punished?"  you  ask. 

* '  Kaiser  Wilhelm  decorated  him  with  the  high- 
est military  order,  the  Pour  le  Merite!" 

"Where  is  Steinbrink  now!" 

"On  December  8,  1916,  the  German  Admiralty 
announced  that  he  had  just  returned  from  a  spe- 
cial trip,  having  torpedoed  and  mined  twenty-two 
ships  on  one  voyage." 

"What  had  he  been  doing?" 

"For  several  months  last  summer  he  trained 
officers  and  crews  in  this  branch  of  warfare,  which 
gained  him  international  notoriety. ' ' 

It  is  said  that  Steinbrink  has  trained  more  na- 
val men  than  any  other  submarine  commander. 
If  this  be  true,  is  there  any  wonder  that  Germany 


208     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

should  be  prepared  to  conduct  a  ruthless  subma- 
rine warfare  throughout  the  world!  Is  it  sur- 
prising that  American  ships  should  be  sunk, 
American  citizens  murdered  and  the  United  States 
Government  defied  when  the  German  navy  has 
been  employing  the  man  who  murdered  the  pas- 
sengers of  the  Lusitania  as  the  chief  instructor 
of  submarine  murderers? 

The  Krupp  interests  have  played  a  leading  role 
in  the  war,  not  only  by  manufacturing  billions  of 
shells  and  cannon,  and  by  financing  propaganda 
in  the  United  States,  but  by  building  submarines. 
At  the  Krupp  wharves  at  Kiel  some  of  the  best 
undersea  craft  are  launched.  Other  shipyards  at 
Bremen,  Hamburg  and  Danzig  have  been  mobi- 
lised for  this  work,  too.  Just  a  few  weeks  before 
diplomatic  relations  were  broken  a  group  of 
American  doctors,  who  were  investigating  prison 
camp  conditions,  went  to  Danzig.  Here  they 
learned  that  the  twelve  wharves  there  were  build- 
ing between  45  and  50  submarines  annually. 
These  were  the  smaller  type  for  use  in  the  Eng- 
lish Channel.  At  Hamburg  the  Hamburg- Ameri- 
can Line  wharves  were  mobilised  for  submarine 
construction  also.  At  the  time  diplomatic  rela- 
tions were  severed  observers  in  Germany  esti- 
mated that  250  submarines  were  being  launched 
annually  and  that  preparations  were  being  made 
greatly  to  increase  this  number. 

Submarine  warfare  is  a  very  exact  and  difficult 
science.  Besides  the  skilled  captain,  competent 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       209 

first  officers,  wireless  operators  and  artillerymen, 
engineers  are  needed.  Each  man,  too,  must  be  a 
"seadog."  Some  of  the  smaller  submarines  toss 
like  tubs  when  they  reach  the  ocean  and  only 
toughened  seamen  can  stand  the  "wear  and  tear." 
Hence  the  weeks  and  months  which  are  necessary 
to  put  the  men  in  order  before  they  leave  home 
for  their  first  excursion  in  sea  murder. 

But  Germany  has  learned  a  great  deal  during 
two  years  of  hit-and-miss  submarine  campaigns. 
When  von  Tirpitz  began,  in  1915,  he  ordered  his 
men  to  work  off  the  coasts  of  England.  Then  so 
many  submarines  were  lost  it  became  a  danger- 
ous and  expensive  military  operation.  The  Al- 
lies began  to  use  great  steel  nets,  both  as  traps 
and  as  protection  to  warships.  The  German  navy 
learned  this  within  a  very  short  time,  and  the 
military  engineers  were  ordered  to  perfect  a  tor- 
pedo which  would  go  through  a  steel  net.  The 
first  invention  was  a  torpedo  with  knives  on  the 
nose.  When  the  nose  hit  the  net  there  was  a 
minor  explosion.  The  knives  were  sent  through 
the  net,  permitting  the  torpedo  to  continue  on  its 
way.  Then  the  Allies  doubled  the  nets,  and  two 
sets  of  knives  were  attached  to  the  German  tor- 
pedoes. But  gradually  the  Allies  employed  nets 
as  traps.  These  were  anchored  or  dragged  by 
fishing  boats.  Some  submarines  have  gotten  in- 
side, been  juggled  around,  but  have  escaped. 
More,  perhaps,  have  been  lost  this  way. 

Then,  when  merchant  ships  began  to  carry  ar- 


210     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

moment,  the  periscopes  were  shot  away,  so  the 
navy  invented  a  so-called  ''finger-periscope,"  a 
thin  rod  pipe  with  a  mirror  at  one  end.  This 
rod  could  be  shoved  out  from  the  top  of  the  sub- 
marine and  used  for  observation  purposes  in  case 
the  big  periscope  was  destroyed.  From  time  to 
time  there  were  other  inventions.  As  the  subma- 
rine fleet  grew  the  means  of  communicating  with 
each  other  while  submerged  at  sea  were  perfected. 
Copper  plates  were  fastened  fore  and  aft  on  the 
outside  of  submarines,  and  it  was  made  possible 
for  wireless  messages  to  be  sent  through  the  wa- 
ter at  a  distance  of  fifty  miles. 

A  submarine  cannot  aim  at  a  ship  without  some 
object  as  a  sight.  So  one  submarine  often  acted 
as  a  "sight"  for  the  submarine  firing  the  torpedo. 
Submarines,  which  at  first  were  unarmed,  were 
later  fitted  with  armour  plate  and  cannon  were 
mounted  on  deck.  The  biggest  submarines  now 
carry  6-inch  guns. 

Like  all  methods  of  ruthless  warfare  the  sub- 
marine campaign  can  be  and  will  be  for  a  time 
successful.  Germany's  submarine  warfare  to- 
day is  much  more  successful  than  the  average  per- 
son realises.  By  December,  1916,  for  instance, 
the  submarines  were  sinking  a  half  million  tons 
of  ships  a  month.  In  January,  1917,  over  600,000 
tons  were  destroyed.  On  February  nearly  800,000 
tons  were  lost.  The  destruction  of  ships  means 
a  corresponding  destruction  of  cargoes,  of  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons.  "When  Germany 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS 

decided  the  latter  part  of  January  to  begin  a 
ruthless  campaign  German  authorities  calculated 
they  could  sink  an  average  of  600,000  tons  per 
month  and  that  in  nine  months  nearly  6,000,000 
tons  of  shipping  could  be  sent  to  the  bottom  of 
the  ocean, — then  the  Allies  would  be  robbed  of 
the  millions  of  tons  of  goods  which  these  ships 
could  carry. 

In  any  military  campaign  one  of  the  biggest 
problems  is  the  transportation  of  troops  and  sup- 
plies. Germany  during  this  war  has  had  to  de- 
pend upon  her  railroads;  the  Allies  have  de- 
pended upon  ships.  Germany  looked  at  her  own 
military  situation  and  saw  that  if  the  Allies  could 
destroy  as  many  railroad  cars  as  Germany  ex- 
pected to  sink  ships,  Germany  would  be  broken 
up  and  unable  to  continue  the  war.  Germany  be- 
lieved ships  were  to  the  Allies  what  railroad  car- 
riages are  to  Germany. 

The  General  Staff  looked  at  the  situation  from 
other  angles.  During  the  winter  there  was  a  tre- 
mendous coal  shortage  in  France  and  Italy. 
There  had  been  coal  riots  in  Paris  and  Borne.  The 
Italian  Government  was  so  in  need  of  coal  that  it 
had  to  confiscate  even  private  supplies.  The 
Grand  Hotel  in  Rome,  for  instance,  had  to  give 
up  300  tons  which  it  had  in  its  coal  bins.  In  1915 
France  had  been  importing  2,000,000  tons  of  coal 
a  month  across  the  Channel  from  England.  Be- 
cause of  the  ordinary  loss  of  tonnage  the  French 
coal  imports  dropped  400,000  tons  per  month. 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Germany  calculated  that  if  she  could  decrease 
England's  coal  exports  400,000  tons  a  month  by 
an  ordinary  submarine  campaign  that  she  could 
double  it  by  a  ruthless  campaign. 

Germany  was  looking  forward  to  the  Allied  of- 
fensive which  was  expected  this  Spring.  Ger- 
many knew  that  the  Allies  would  need  troops  and 
ammunition.  She  knew  that  to  manufacture  am- 
munition and  war  supplies  coal  was  needed.  Ger- 
many calculated  that  if  the  coal  importations  to 
France  could  be  cut  down  a  million  tons  a  month 
France  would  not  be  able  to  manufacture  the  nec- 
essary ammunition  for  an  offensive  lasting  sev- 
eral months. 

Germany  knew  that  England  and  France  were 
importing  thousands  of  tons  of  war  supplies  and 
food  from  the  United  States.  Judging  from  the 
German  newspapers  which  I  read  at  this  time 
every  one  in  Germany  had  the  impression  that  the 
food  situation  in  England  and  France  was  almost 
as  bad  as  in  Germany.  Even  Ambassador  Gerard 
had  somewhat  the  same  impression.  When  he 
left  Germany  for  Switzerland  on  his  way  to 
Spain,  he  took  two  cases  of  eggs  which  he  had 
purchased  in  Denmark.  One  night  at  a  reception 
in  Berne,  one  of  the  American  women  in  the  Ge- 
rard party  asked  the  French  Ambassador  whether 
France  really  had  enough  food!  If  the  Ameri- 
cans coming  from  Germany  had  the  impression 
that  the  Allies  were  sorely  in  need  of  supplies  one 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS 

can  see  how  general  the  impression  must  have 
been  throughout  Germany. 

When  I  was  in  Paris  I  was  surprised  to  see  so 
much  food  and  to  see  such  a  variety.  Paris  ap- 
peared to  be  as  normal  in  this  respect  as  Copen- 
hagen or  Eotterdam.  But  I  was  told  by  Ameri- 
can women  who  were  keeping  house  there  that  it 
was  becoming  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  food. 

After  Congress  declared  war  it  became  evident 
for  the  first  time  that  the  Allies  really  did  need 
war  supplies  and  food  from  the  United  States 
more  than  they  needed  anything  else.  London 
and  Paris  officials  publicly  stated  that  this  was 
the  kind  of  aid  the  Allies  really  needed.  It  be- 
came evident,  too,  that  the  Allies  not  only  needed 
the  food  but  that  they  needed  ships  to  carry  sup- 
plies across  the  Atlantic.  One  of  the  first  things 
President  Wilson  did  was  to  approve  plans  for 
the  construction  of  a  fleet  of  3,000  wooden  ships 
practically  to  bridge  the  Atlantic. 

During  the  first  three  months  of  1917  subma- 
rine warfare  was  a  success  in  that  it  so  decreased 
the  ship  tonnage  and  the  importations  of  the  Al- 
lies that  they  needed  American  co-operation  and 
assistance.  So  the  United  States  really  enters  the 
war  at  the  critical  and  decisive  stage.  Germany 
believes  she  can  continue  to  sink  ships  faster 
than  they  can  be  built,  but  Germany  did  not  cal- 
culate upon  a  fleet  of  wooden  bottom  vessels  be- 
ing built  in  the  United  States  to  make  up  for  the 
losses.  Germany  did  not  expect  the  United  States 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

to  enter  the  war  with  all  the  vigour  and  energy 
of  the  American  people.  Germany  calculated  upon 
internal  troubles,  upon  opposition  to  the  war  and 
upon  the  pacifists  to  have  America  make  as  many 
mistakes  as  England  did  during  the  first  two 
years  of  the  war.  But  the  United  States  has 
learned  and  profited  by  careful  observation  in 
Europe.  Just  as  England's  declaration  of  war 
on  Germany  in  support  of  Belgium  and  France 
was  a  surprise  to  Germany;  just  as  the  shipment 
of  war  supplies  by  American  firms  to  the  Allies 
astonished  Germany,  so  will  the  construction  of 
3,000  wooden  vessels  upset  the  calculations  of  the 
German  General  Staff. 

While  American  financial  assistance  will  be  a 
great  help  to  the  Allies  that  will  not  affect  the 
German  calculations  because  when  the  Kaiser  and 
his  Generals  decided  on  the  27th  of  January  to 
damn  all  neutrals,  German  financiers  were  not 
consulted. 

Neither  did  the  German  General  Staff  count 
upon  the  Russian  Revolution  going  against  them. 
Germany  had  expected  a  revolution  there,  but 
Germany  bet  upon  the  Czar  and  the  Czar's  Ger- 
man wife.  As  Lieutenant  Colonel  von  Haeften, 
Chief  Military  Censor  in  Berlin,  told  the  corre- 
spondents, Germany  calculated  upon  the  internal 
troubles  in  Russia  aiding  her.  But  the  Allies  and 
the  people  won  the  Russian  Revolution.  Ger- 
many's hopes  that  the  Czar  might  again  return 
to  power  or  that  the  people  might  overthrow  their 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       215 

present  democratic  leaders  will  come  to  naught 
now  that  America  has  declared  war  and  thrown 
her  tremendous  and  unlimited  moral  influence  be- 
hind the  Allies  and  with  the  Russian  people. 

Rear  Admiral  Hollweg's  calculations  that 
24,253,615  tons  of  shipping  remained  for  the 
world  freight  transmission  at  the  beginning  of 
1917,  did  not  take  into  consideration  confiscation 
by  the  United  States  of  nearly  2,500,000  tons  of 
German  and  Austrian  shipping  in  American 
ports.  He  did  not  expect  the  United  States  to 
build  3,000  new  ships  in  1917.  He  did  not  expect 
the  United  States  to  purchase  the  ships  under 
construction  in  American  wharves  for  neutral 
European  countries. 

The  German  submarine  campaign,  like  all  other 
German  "successes,"  will  be  temporary.  Every 
time  the  General  Staff  has  counted  upon  *  *  ultimate 
victory"  it  has  failed  to  take  into  consideration 
the  determination  of  the  enemy.  Germany  be- 
lieved that  the  world  could  be  "knocked  out"  by 
big  blows.  Germany  thought  when  she  destroyed 
and  invaded  Belgium  and  northern  France  that 
these  two  countries  would  not  be  able  to  "come 
back. ' '  Germany  thought  when  she  took  Warsaw 
and  a  great  part  of  western  Russia  that  Russia 
would  not  be  able  to  continue  the  war.  Germany 
figured  that  after  the  invasion  of  Roumania  and 
Servia  that  these  two  countries  would  not  need 
to  be  considered  seriously  in  the  future.  Germany 


216     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

believed  that  her  submarine  campaign  would  be 
successful  before  the  United  States  could  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  Allies.  German  hope  of  ''ultimate 
victory"  has  been  postponed  ever  since  Septem- 
ber, 1914,  when  von  Kluck  failed  to  take  Paris. 
And  Germany's  hopes  for  an  " ultimate  victory" 
this  summer  before  the  United  States  can  get  into 
the  war  will  be  postponed  so  long  that  Germany 
will  make  peace  not  on  her  own  terms  but  upon 
the  terms  which  the  United  States  of  Democracy 
of  the  Whole  World  will  dictate. 

One  day  in  Paris  I  met  Admiral  LeCaze,  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  in  his  office  in  the  Admiralty. 
He  discussed  the  submarine  warfare  from  every 
angle.  He  said  the  Germans,  when  they  figured 
upon  so  many  tons  of  shipping  and  of  supplies  de- 
stroyed by  submarines,  failed  to  take  into  consid- 
eration the  fact  that  over  100  ships  were  arriving 
daily  at  French  ports  and  that  over  5,000,000 
tons  of  goods  were  being  brought  into  France 
monthly. 

When  I  explained  to  him  what  it  appeared  to 
me  would  be  the  object  of  the  German  ruthless 
campaign  he  said : 

''Germany  cannot  win  the  war  by  her  subma- 
rine campaign  or  by  any  other  weapon.  That 
side  will  win  which  holds  out  one  week,  one  day  or 
one  hour  longer  than  the  other." 

And  this  Admiral,  who,  dressed  in  civilian 
clothes,  looked  more  like  a  New  York  financier 


THE  BERNHARDI  OF  THE  SEAS       217 

than  a  naval  officer,  leaned  forward  in  his  chair, 
looked  straight  at  me  and  concluded  the  interview 
by  saying: 
"The  Allies  will  win." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   OUTLAWED    NATION 

DURING  the  S online  battles  several  of  the 
American  correspondents  in  Berlin  were 
invited  to  go  to  the  front  near  Peronne 
and  were  asked  to  luncheon  by  the  Bavarian  Gen- 
eral von  Kirchhoff,  who  was  in  command  against 
the  French.  When  the  correspondents  reached 
his  headquarters  in  a  little  war-worn  French  vil- 
lage they  were  informed  that  the  Kaiser  had  just 
summoned  the  general  to  decorate  him  with  the 
high  German  military  order,  the  Pour  le  Merite. 
Luncheon  was  postponed  until  the  general  re- 
turned. The  correspondents  watched  him  motor 
to  the  chateau  where  they  were  and  were  sur- 
prised to  see  tears  in  his  eyes  as  he  stepped  out 
of  the  automobile  and  received  the  cordial  greet- 
ings and  congratulations  of  his  staff,  von  Kirch- 
hoff,  in  a  brief  impromptu  speech,  paid  a  high 
tribute  to  the  German  troops  which  were  holding 
the  French  and  said  the  decoration  was  not  his 
but  his  troops '.  And  in  a  broken  voice  he  re- 
marked that  these  soldiers  were  sacrificing  their 
lives  for  the  Fatherland,  but  were  called  "Huns 
and  Barbarians"  for  doing  it.  There  was  an- 

218 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  219 

other  long  pause  and  the  general  broke  down, 
cried  and  had  to  leave  his  staff  and  guests. 

These  indictments  of  the  Allies  were  more  ter- 
rible to  him  than  the  war  itself. 

General  von  Kirchhoff  in  this  respect  is  typical 
of  Germany.  Most  Germans,  practically  every 
German  I  knew,  could  not  understand  why  the  Al- 
lies did  not  respect  their  enemies  as  the  Germans 
said  they  respected  the  Allies. 

A  few  weeks  later,  in  November,  when  I  was 
on  the  Somme  with  another  group  of  correspond- 
ents, I  was  asked  by  nearly  every  officer  I  met  why 
it  was  that  Germany  was  so  hated  throughout  the 
world.  It  was  a  question  I  could  not  easily  answer 
without,  perhaps,  hurting  the  feelings  of  the  men 
who  wanted  to  know,  or  insulting  them,  which  as  a 
guest  I  did  not  desire  to  do. 

A  few  days  later  on  the  train  from  Cambrai  to 
Berlin  I  was  asked  by  a  group  of  officers  to  ex- 
plain why  the  people  in  the  United  States,  espe- 
cially, were  so  bitter.  To  get  the  discussion  un- 
der way  the  Captain  from  the  General  Staff  who 
had  acted  as  our  escort  presented  his  indictment 
of  American  neutrality  and  asked  me  to  reply. 

This  feeling,  this  desire  to  know  why  Germany 
was  regarded  as  an  outlawed  nation,  was  not  pres- 
ent in  Germany  early  in  1915  when  I  arrived.  In 
February,  1915,  people  were  confident.  They  were 
satisfied  with  the  progress  of  the  war.  They  knew 
the  Allies  hated  them  and  they  returned  the  hate 
and  did  not  care.  But  between  February,  1915, 


220     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

and  November,  1916,  a  great  change  took  place. 
On  my  first  trip  to  the  front  in  April,  1915,  I 
heard  of  no  officers  or  men  shedding  tears  because 
the  Allies  hated  them. 

When  I  sailed  from  New  York  two  years  ago  it 
seemed  to  me  that  sentiment  in  the  United  States 
was  about  equally  divided;  that  most  people  fa- 
voured neutrality,  even  a  majority  of  those  who 
supported  the  Entente.  The  feeling  of  sympathy 
which  so  many  thousands  of  Americans  had  for 
Germany  I  could,  at  that  time,  readily  under- 
stand, because  I  myself  was  sympathetic.  I  felt 
that  Germany  had  not  had  a  fighting  chance  with 
public  opinion  in  the  United  States. 

I  could  not  believe  that  all  the  charges  against 
Germany  applied  to  the  German  people.  Al- 
though it  was  difficult  to  understand  what  Ger- 
many had  done  in  Belgium,  although  it  was  evi- 
dent and  admitted  by  the  Chancellor  that  Ger- 
many violated  the  neutrality  of  that  country, 
I  could  not  believe  that  a  nation,  which  before  the 
war  had  such  a  high  standing  in  science  and  com- 
merce, could  have  plotted  or  desired  such  a  tre- 
mendous war  as  swept  Europe  in  1914. 

When  I  arrived  in  Berlin  on  March  17,  1915, 
and  met  German  officials  and  people  for  the  first 
time,  I  was  impressed  by  their  sincerity,  their  hon- 
esty and  their  belief  that  the  Government  did  not 
cause  the  war  and  was  fighting  to  defend  the  na- 
tion. At  the  theatre  I  saw  performances  of 
Shakespeare,  which  were  among  the  best  I  had 


2>fe  btct  erflut  SfaflaQCtt  roar  en   oot  beta   Crf^einen  vet* 
fitiffen.  —  Soebcn  crfrfncncn: 

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fcon  (EUegaat 

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.  SIS  SBotttMtti:  $refftB«tt  j  14 
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EjemB,  'i'uturparmern  unB  ,  Skit  unB  nod)  etner.  (£ie 
SReitftiefeln  lien  ®eift  fet 
net  Unftei6Iid)feit 

atiifee  id). 
Bet    ,,$otc 


2.  .ffatfer, 

3. 

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iniS^nlicfte  ©uropaer 

4.  3m  ftanvpf  mit  amertfa= 
nifdjem  S 


5.  gamilte  ./SftanB"  (®ent). 

6.  Set  SReinfott    Be§ 
SJlauIS. 

7.  Set    fieja^mtc 
pfau. 

8.  S3icr  ^autane,  eitt  SJtann 
u.  eine  RotBene 


18.  ,^t&er  inein  S>oflar  fann 
attest"  (Sin  2:ljefen4Be« 
f  ennlntS  in  fiinf  iRunben.) 

17.  2>cr  $tefn&ent  lac^t  p* 
fein  Xoteirfiefi  (&ann  au§ 
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fact). 

13.  21  n    Sen    Jjei&ett 


roaffctn 

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9.  9Ki&  u.  SUiiftet  Untetttxf. 

10.  2>ad   ^erlenftu^n.     (Eine 
©efdridite    mit    feljt    ee= 

Bdutpftet  Stinrmc.) 

11.  2JliHionat=S&etbun(f. 

SSnBcn  —  nnb  matum  Bet 
Stieg    oerfdjoben 
13.  S;eS     ^Jtefrtfrentei 

fincrett  Bie  SBotjune  fetne§ 
2anBe3  ant  eieencn  2eioe 
^eruntet. 


19.  S)te      toten      ©efpenfter 
i'.tt     roctfecu     $aufe    von 
SSaffitnflton. 

20.  SBtuBet    SJSonat^an,     nn> 
ftecfft  Bn? 

21.  Set  &Iawrt  &' 

•22.  Sne  SSetjuctten  b.  & 

•23.  3>ie      2Uien=6nBeI      unb 

anBcte    ©angroiirfte     Be§ 


au3 

Slntetifa     (2>ie    Iatcflori= 
Qtotperatioe     einet 


Srunf  Hrteile  ufict  GUcrBcfs  S<!^affcn: 


SSaljiIjaftift  ©ruffB  ficmtfl  fiit  ie&en  Seutfdjen,  un&  »n. 
mat  ffit  ie&en  9tKBeutfd)Ctt,  etnen  Bet  36ren,  Bet  ein  GBeling 
ift  von  Bcutfdjem  J3Iut  unB  Beutfdiet  ©efmnung,  mit  Ijeifjer 
2ie&e  ju  nntfoffen. 

&i.  6.   (StttBeutWe  SBISttet. 


AN   ADVERTISEMENT  IN  THE  BERLIN  "DEUTSCHE  TAGESZEITUNG*' 
FOR  THE  BOOK  "PRESIDENT  BLUFF,"  MEANING  PRESIDENT  WILSON 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION 

ever  seen.  I  marvelled  at  the  wonderful  modern 
hospitals  and  at  the  efficiency  and  organisation 
of  the  Government.  I  marvelled  at  the  expert 
ways  in  which  prison  camps  were  administered. 
I  was  surprised  to  find  railroad  trains  clean  and 
punctual.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  Germany  was  a 
nation  which  had  reached  the  height  of  perfection 
and  that  it  was  honestly  and  conscientiously  de- 
fending itself  against  the  group  of  powers  which 
desired  its  destruction. 

For  over  a  year  I  entered  enthusiastically  into 
the  work  of  interpreting  and  presenting  this  Ger- 
many to  the  American  people.  At  this  time  there 
was  practically  no  food  problem.  German  banks 
and  business  men  were  preparing  for  and  expect- 
ing peace.  The  Government  was  already  making 
plans  for  after  the  war  when  soldiers  would  re- 
turn from  the  front.  A  Reichstag  Committee  had 
been  appointed  to  study  Germany's  possible 
peace  time  labour  needs  and  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  solving  them. 

But  in  the  fall  of  1915  the  changes  began.  The 
Lusitania  had  been  destroyed  in  May  and  almost 
immediately  the  hate  campaign  against  America 
was  started.  I  saw  the  tendency  to  attack  and  be- 
little the  United  States  grow  not  only  in  the  army, 
in  the  navy  and  in  the  press,  but  among  the  peo- 
ple. I  saw  that  Germany  was  growing  to  deeply 
resent  anything  the  United  States  Government 
said  against  what  the  German  Government  did. 
When  this  anti- American  campaign  was  launched 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

I  observed  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  Foreign 
Office  to  censor  more  strictly  the  telegrams  which 
the  correspondents  desired  to  send  to  the  Ameri- 
can newspapers.  Previously,  the  Foreign  Office 
had  been  extremely  frank  and  cordial  and  permit- 
ted correspondents  to  send  what  they  observed 
and  heard,  as  long  as  the  despatches  did  not  con- 
tain information  which  would  aid  the  Allies  in 
their  military  or  economic  attacks  on  Germany. 
As  the  hate  articles  appeared  in  the  newspapers 
the  correspondents  were  not  only  prohibited  from 
sending  them,  but  they  were  criticised  by  the  For- 
eign Office  for  writing  anything  which  might 
cause  the  American  people  to  be  angered  at  Ger- 
many. One  day  I  made  a  translation  of  a  bitter 
article  in  the  B.  Z.  am  Mittag  and  submitted  it  to 
the  Foreign  Office  censor.  He  asked  why  I  paid 
so  much  attention  to  articles  in  this  newspaper 
which  he  termed  a  "Kaese-blatt" — literally  "a 
cheese  paper."  He  said  it  had  no  influence  in 
Germany;  that  no  one  cared  what  it  said.  This 
newspaper,  however,  was  the  only  noon-day  edi- 
tion in  Berlin  and  was  published  by  the  largest 
newspaper  publishing  house  in  Germany,  Ullstein 
&  Co.  At  his  request  I  withdrew  the  telegram  and 
forgot  the  incident.  Within  a  few  days,  however, 
Count  zu  Eeventlow,  in  the  Deutsclie  Tageszei- 
tung,  and  Georg  Bernhard,  in  the  Vossische  Zei- 
tung,  wrote  sharp  attacks  on  President  Wilson. 
But  I  could  not  telegraph  these. 
Previous  to  the  fall  of  1915  not  only  the  Ger- 


223 

man  Government  but  the  German  people  were 
charitable  to  the  opinions  of  neutrals,  especially 
those  who  happened  to  be  in  Germany  for  business 
or  professional  reasons,  but,  as  the  anti-Amer- 
ican campaign  and  the  cry  that  America  was  not 
neutral  by  permitting  supplies  to  be  shipped  to 
the  Allies  became  more  extensive,  the  public  be- 
came less  charitable.  Previously  a  neutral  in. 
Germany  could  be  either  pro-German,  pro-Ally 
or  neutral.  Now,  however,  it  was  impossible  to 
be  neutral,  especially  if  one  were  an  American, 
because  the  very  statement  that  one  was  an  Amer- 
ican carried  with  it  the  implication  that  one  was 
anti-German.  The  American  colony  itself  became 
divided.  There  was  the  pro-American  group  and 
the  pro-German  government  group.  The  former 
was  centred  at  the  American  Embassy.  The  lat- 
ter was  inspired  by  the  German- Americans  who 
had  lived  in  Germany  most  of  their  lives  and  by 
other  sympathetic  Americans  who  came  from  the 
United  States.  Meanwhile  there  were  printed  in 
German  newspapers  many  leading  articles  and  in- 
terviews from  the  American  press  attacking  Pres- 
ident Wilson,  and  any  one  sympathising  with  the 
President,  even  Ambassador  Gerard,  became  au- 
tomatically ' '  Deutschf  eidlich. ' ' 

As  the  submarine  warfare  became  more  and 
more  a  critical  issue  German  feeling  towards  the 
United  States  changed.  I  found  that  men  who 
were  openly  professing  their  friendship  for  the 
United  States  were  secretly  doing  everything 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

within  their  power  to  intimidate  America.  The 
Government  began  to  feel  as  if  the  American  fac- 
tories which  were  supplying  the  Allies  were  as 
much  subject  to  attack  as  similar  factories  in 
Allied  countries.  I  recall  one  time  learning  at  the 
American  Embassy  that  a  man  named  Wulf  von 
Igel  had  asked  Ambassador  Gerard  for  a  safe 
conduct,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  going  to  the 
United  States  to  try  and  have  condensed  milk 
shipped  to  Germany  for  the  children.  Mr.  Ge- 
rard refused  to  ask  Washington  to  grant  this  man 
a  safe  conduct.  I  did  not  learn  until  several 
months  afterwards  that  Herr  von  Igel  had  been 
asked  to  go  to  the  United  States  by  Under  Sec- 
retary of  State  Zimmermann  for  one  of  two  pur- 
poses, either  he  was  to  purchase  a  controlling  in- 
terest in  the  Du  Pont  Powder  Mills  no  matter 
what  that  cost,  or  he  was  to  stir  up  dissatisfac- 
tion in  Mexico.  Zimmermann  gave  him  a  card 
of  introduction  to  Count  von  Bernstorff,  the  Ger- 
man Ambassador  in  Washington,  and  told  him 
that  the  German  Embassy  would  supply  him  with 
all  necessary  funds. 

Carrying  out  the  German  idea  that  it  was  right 
to  harm  or  destroy  American  property  which  was 
directly  or  indirectly  aiding  the  Allies,  both 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  published  no- 
tices that  their  citizens  in  the  United  States 
were  not  permitted  to  work  in  such  factories. 
And  plots  which  Captains  Boy-Ed  and  von 
Papen  instigated  here  were  done  with  the 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  225 

approval  and  encouragement  of  the  German 
Government.  If  any  proof  is  needed  for  this 
statement,  in  addition  to  that  already  published, 
it  is  that  both  of  these  men  upon  their  return  to 
Germany  were  regarded  as  heroes  and  given  the 
most  trusted  positions.  Captain  Boy-Ed  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Intelligence  Department 
of  the  Navy  and  Captain  von  Papen  was  assigned 
to  the  Headquarters  of  the  General  Commanding 
the  operations  on  the  Somme. 

As  the  food  situation  in  Germany  became  worse 
the  disposition  of  the  people  changed  still  more. 
The  Government  had  already  pointed  out  in  nu- 
merous public  statements  that  the  United  States 
was  not  neutral  because  it  overlooked  the  English 
blockade  and  thought  only  about  the  German  sub- 
marine war.  So  as  food  difficulties  developed  the 
people  blamed  the  United  States  and  held  Presi- 
dent Wilson  personally  responsible  for  the  grow- 
ing shortages  within  Germany.  The  people  be- 
lieved Mr.  Wilson  was  their  greatest  enemy  and 
that  he  was  the  man  most  to  be  feared.  How 
strong  this  feeling  was  not  only  among  the  peo- 
ple but  in  Government  circles  was  to  be  shown 
later  when  Germany  announced  her  submarine 
campaign. 

As  was  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter  while 
Germany  was  arguing  against  shipments  of  war 
munitions  from  the  United  States  she  was  herself 
responsible  for  the  preparations  which  Russia  and 
Roumania  had  made  against  her,  but  this  proof 


226     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

of  deception  on  the  part  of  the  Government  was 
never  explained  to  the  German  people.  Further- 
more the  people  were  never  told  why  the  United 
States  asked  for  the  recall  of  Germany's  two  at- 
taches who  were  implicated  in  spy  plots.  Noth- 
ing was  ever  published  in  the  German  newspa- 
pers about  Herr  von  Igel.  The  newspapers  al- 
ways published  despatches  which  told  of  the  de- 
struction of  ammunition  factories  by  plotters,  but 
never  about  the  charges  against  and  arrests  of 
German  reservists.  Just  as  the  German  Govern- 
ment has  never  permitted  the  people  to  know  that 
it  prepared  for  a  war  against  nine  nations,  as  the 
document  I  saw  in  the  Chief  Telegraph  Office 
shows,  so  has  it  not  explained  to  the  people  the 
real  motives  and  the  real  arguments  which  Presi- 
dent Wilson  presented  in  his  many  submarine 
notes.  Whenever  these  notes  were  published  in 
the  German  newspapers  the  Government  always 
published  an  official  explanation,  or  correspond- 
ents were  inspired  to  write  the  Government  views, 
so  the  people  could  not  think  for  themselves  or 
come  to  honest  personal  conclusions. 

The  effectiveness  of  Mr.  Wilson's  diplomacy 
against  Germany  was  decreased  by  some  German- 
Americans,  and  the  fact  that  the  United  States  is 
to-day  at  war  with  Germany  is  due  to  this  blun- 
dering on  the  behalf  of  some  of  those  over-zeal- 
ous citizens  who,  being  so  anxious  to  aid  Ger- 
many, became  anti- Wilson  and  in  the  long  run  de- 
feated what  they  set  out  to  accomplish.  Had  the 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  227 

German  Government  not  been  assured  by  some 
German- Americans  that  they  would  never  permit 
President  Wilson  to  break  diplomatic  relations  or 
go  to  war,  had  these  self-appointed  envoys  stayed 
away  from  Berlin,  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Germany  might  to-day  be  dif- 
ferent than  they  are.  Because  if  Germany  at  the 
outset  of  the  submarine  negotiations  had  been 
given  the  impression  by  a  united  America  that 
the  President  spoke  for  the  country,  Germany 
would  undoubtedly  have  given  up  all  hope  of  a 
ruthless  submarine  warfare. 

I  think  President  Wilson  and  Mr.  Gerard  real- 
ised that  the  activities  of  the  German- Americans 
here  were  not  only  interfering  with  the  diplomatic 
negotiations  but  that  the  German- Americans  were 
acting  against  their  own  best  interests  if  they 
really  desired  peace  with  Germany. 

When  some  of  the  President's  friends  saw  that 
the  German  people  were  receiving  such  biased 
news  from  the  United  States  and  that  Germany 
had  no  opportunity  of  learning  the  real  sentiment 
here,  nor  of  sounding  the  depth  of  American  in- 
dignation over  the  Lusitania  they  endeavoured 
to  get  despatches  from  the  United  States  to  Ger- 
many to  enlighten  the  people.  Mr.  Roy  W.  How- 
ard, President  of  the  United  Press,  endeavoured 
several  times  while  I  was  in  Berlin  to  get  un- 
adulterated American  news  in  the  German  news- 
papers, but  the  German  Government  was  not 
overly  anxious  to  have  such  information  pub- 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

lished.  It  was  too  busy  encouraging  the  anti- 
American  sentiment  for  the  purpose  of  frighten- 
ing the  United  States.  It  was  difficult,  too,  for 
the  United  Press  to  get  the  necessary  co-opera- 
tion in  the  United  States  for  this  news  service. 
After  the  settlement  of  the  Sussex  dispute  the 
democratic  newspapers  of  Germany,  those  which 
were  supporting  the  Chancellor,  were  anxious  to 
receive  reports  from  here,  but  the  German  For- 
eign Office  would  not  encourage  the  matter  to 
the  extent  of  using  the  wireless  towers  at  Sayville 
and  Tuckerton  as  means  of  transmitting  the  news. 
How  zealously  the  Foreign  Office  censor  guards 
what  appears  in  the  German  newspapers  was 
shown  about  two  weeks  before  diplomatic  rela- 
tions were  broken.  When  the  announcement  was 
wirelessed  to  the  United  States  that  Germany  had 
adopted  the  von  Tirpitz  blockade  policy  the  United 
Press  sent  me  a  number  of  daily  bulletins  tell- 
ing what  the  American  Press,  Congressmen  and 
the  Government  were  thinking  and  saying  about 
the  new  order.  The  first  day  these  despatches 
reached  me  I  sent  them  to  several  of  the  leading 
newspapers  only  to  be  notified  in  less  than  an 
hour  afterward  by  the  Foreign  Office  that  I  was 
to  send  no  information  to  the  German  newspa- 
pers without  first  sending  it  to  the  Foreign  Office. 
Two  days  after  the  blockade  order  was  published 
I  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Howard  saying 
that  diplomatic  relations  would  be  broken,  and 
giving  me  a  summary  of  the  press  comment.  I 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  229 

took  this  despatch  to  the  Foreign  Office  and  asked 
permission  to  send  it  to  the  newspapers.  It  was 
refused.  Throughout  this  crisis  which  lasted  un- 
til the  10th  of  February  the  Foreign  Office  would 
not  permit  a  single  despatch  coming  direct  from 
America  to  be  printed  in  the  German  newspapers. 
The  Foreign  Office  preferred  to  have  the  news- 
papers publish  what  came  by  way  of  England  and 
France  so  that  the  Government  could  always  ex- 
plain that  only  English  and  French  news  could 
reach  Germany  because  the  United  States  was 
not  interested  in  seeing  that  Germany  obtained 
first  hand  information. 

While  Germany  was  arguing  that  the  United 
States  was  responsible  for  her  desperate  situa- 
tion, economically,  and  while  President  Wilson 
was  being  blamed  for  not  breaking  the  Allied 
blockade,  the  German  Foreign  Office  was  doing 
everything  within  its  power  to  prevent  German 
goods  from  being  shipped  to  the  United  States. 
When,  through  the  efforts  of  Ambassador  Ge- 
rard, numerous  attempts  were  made  to  get  Ger- 
man goods,  including  medicines  and  dye-stuffs,  to 
the  United  States,  the  German  Government  re- 
plied that  these  could  not  leave  the  country  unless 
an  equal  amount  of  goods  were  sent  to  Germany. 
Then,  when  the  State  Department  arranged  for 
an  equal  amount  of  American  goods  to  be  shipped 
in  exchange  the  German  Foreign  Office  said  all 
these  goods  would  have  to  be  shipped  to  and  from 
German  ports.  WTien  the  State  Department  lis- 


230     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

tened  to  this  demand  and  American  steamers 
were  started  on  their  way  to  Hamburg  and  Bre- 
men the  German  Navy  was  so  busy  sewing  mines 
off  these  harbours  to  keep  the  English  fleet  away 
that  they  failed  to  notify  the  American  skippers 
where  the  open  channels  were.  As  a  result  so 
many  American  ships  were  sunk  trying  to  bring 
goods  into  German  harbours  that  it  became  un- 
profitable for  American  shippers  to  try  to  ac- 
commodate Germany. 

About  this  time,  also,  the  German  Government 
began  its  policy  of  discouraging  American  busi- 
ness in  Germany.  Ambassador  Gerard  had  had 
a  long  wrangle  with  the  Chancellor  over  a  bill 
which  was  introduced  in  the  Reichstag  shortly 
after  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  purchase  all  for- 
eign oil  properties  "within  the  German  Customs 
Union."  The  bill  was  examined  by  Mr.  Gerard, 
who,  for  a  number  of  years,  was  a  Supreme  Court 
Judge  of  New  York.  He  discovered  that  the  ob- 
ject of  the  bill  was  to  put  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany out  of  business  by  purchasing  all  of  this 
company's  property  except  that  located  in  Ham- 
burg. This  was  the  joker.  Hamburg  was  not  in 
the  German  Customs  Union  and  the  bill  provided 
for  the  confiscation  of  all  property  not  in  this 
Union. 

Mr.  Gerard  called  upon  the  Chancellor  and  told 
him  that  the  United  States  Government  could  not 
permit  such  a  bill  to  be  passed  without  a  vigor- 
ous protest.  The  Chancellor  asked  Mr.  Gerard 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  231 

whether  President  Wilson  and  Secretary  of  State 
Bryan  would  ever  protect  such  a  corporation  as 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  was  supposed  to  be. 
Mr.  Gerard  replied  that  the  very  fact  that  these 
two  officials  were  known  in  the  public  mind  as  hav- 
ing no  connection  with  this  corporation  would 
give  them  an  opportunity  of  defending  its  inter- 
ests the  same  as  the  Government  would  defend  the 
interests  of  any  other  American.  The  Chancellor 
seemed  surprised  at  this  statement  and  Mr.  Ge- 
rard continued  about  as  follows : 

' '  You  know  that  Germany  has  already  been  dis- 
criminating against  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 
You  know  that  the  Prussian  State  Railways 
charge  this  American  corporation  twice  as  much 
to  ship  oil  from  Hamburg  to  Bremen  as  they 
charge  the  German  oil  interests  to  ship  Rouma- 
nian oil  from  the  Austrian  border  to  Berlin.  Now 
don't  you  think  that's  enough?" 

The  interview  ended  here.  And  the  bill  was 
never  brought  up  in  the  Reichstag. 

But  this  policy  of  the  Government  of  intimidat- 
ing and  intriguing  against  American  interests 
was  continued  until  diplomatic  relations  were 
broken.  In  December,  1916,  Adolph  Barthmann, 
an  American  citizen,  who  owned  the  largest  shoe 
store  in  Berlin,  desired  to  close  his  place  of  busi- 
ness and  go  to  the  United  States.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  get  American  shoes  because  of 
the  Allied  blockade  and  he  had  decided  to  discon- 
tinue business  until  peace  was  made. 


232     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Throughout  the  war  it  has  been  necessary  for 
all  Americans,  as  well  as  all  other  neutrals,  to 
obtain  permission  from  the  police  before  they 
could  leave.  Barthmann  went  to  Police  Headquar- 
ters, and  asked  for  authority  to  go  to  the  United 
States.  He  was  informed  that  his  passport  would 
have  to  be  examined  by  the  General  Staff  and 
that  he  could  call  for  it  within  eight  days.  At  the 
appointed  day  Barthmann  appeared  at  Police 
Headquarters  where  he  was  informed  by  the  Po- 
lice Captain  that  upon  orders  of  the  General  Staff 
he  would  have  to  sign  a  paper  and  swear  to  the 
statement  that  neither  he  nor  the  American  firms 
he  represented  had  sold,  or  would  sell,  shoes  to 
the  Allies.  Barthmann  was  told  that  this  state- 
ment would  have  to  be  sworn  to  by  another  Amer- 
ican resident  of  Berlin  and  that  unless  this  was 
done  he  would  not  be  permitted  to  return  to  Ger- 
many after  the  war.  Mr.  Barthmann  had  to  sign 
the  document  under  protest  before  his  American 
passport  was  returned. 

The  facts  in  this  as  in  the  other  instances  which 
I  have  narrated,  are  in  the  possession  of  the  State 
Department  at  Washington. 

When  the  German  Government  began  to  fear 
that  the  United  States  might  some  day  join  the 
Allies  if  the  submarine  campaign  was  renewed, 
it  campaigned  by  threatening  the  United  States 
with  a  Russian- Japanese-German  alliance  after 
the  war  against  England  and  the  United  States. 
These  threats  were  not  disguised.  Ambassador 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  233 

Gerard  was  informed,  indirectly  and  unofficially 
of  course,  by  German  financiers  and  members  of 
the  Reichstag  that  Germany  ''would  be  forced" 
to  make  such  an  alliance  if  the  United  States  ever 
joined  the  Allies.  As  was  shown  later  by  the  in- 
structions of  Secretary  of  State  Zimmermann  to 
the  German  Minister  in  Mexico  City,  Germany 
has  not  only  not  given  up  that  idea,  but  Germany 
now  looks  forward  to  Mexico  as  the  fourth  mem- 
ber of  the  league. 

As  Germany  became  more  and  more  suspicious 
of  Americans  in  Germany,  who  were  not  openly 
pro-German,  she  made  them  suffer  when  they 
crossed  the  German  frontier  to  go  to  neutral 
countries.  The  German  military  authorities,  at 
border  towns  such  as  Warnemuende  and  Ben- 
theim,  took  a  dislike  to  American  women  who 
were  going  to  Holland  or  Denmark,  and  especial- 
ly to  the  wives  of  U.  S.  consular  officials.  One 
time  when  I  was  going  from  Berlin  to  Copenha- 
gen I  learned  from  the  husband  of  one  of  the 
women  examined  at  the  border  what  the  authori- 
ties had  done  to  her.  I  saw  her  before  and  after 
the  ordeal  and  when  I  heard  of  what  an  atrocious 
examination  they  had  made  I  understood  why  she 
was  in  bed  ten  days  afterward  and  under  the  con- 
stant care  of  physicians.  Knowing  what  German 
military  officers  and  German  women  detectives 
had  done  in  some  of  the  invaded  countries,  one 
does  not  need  to  know  the  details  of  these  in- 
sults. It  is  sufficient  to  state  that  after  the  wives 


234     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

of  several  American  officials  and  other  prominent 
American  residents  of  Berlin  had  been  treated  in 
this  manner  that  the  State  Department  wrote  a 
vigorous  and  defiant  note  to  Germany  stating  that 
unless  the  practice  was  immediately  discontinued 
the  United  States  would  give  up  the  oversight  of 
all  German  interests  in  Allied  countries.  The  ul- 
timatum had  the  desired  effect.  The  German  Gov- 
ernment replied  that  while  the  order  of  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  could  not  be  changed  it  would  be  waived 
in  practice. 

No  matter  who  the  American  is,  who  admired 
Germany,  or,  who  respected  Germany,  or,  who 
sympathised  with  Germany  as  she  was  before,  or, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  no  American  can  sup- 
port this  Germany  which  I  have  just  described, 
against  his  own  country.  The  Germany  of  1913, 
which  was  admired  and  respected  by  the  scien- 
tific, educational  and  business  world ;  the  Germany 
of  1913  which  had  no  poor,  which  took  better  care 
of  its  workmen  than  any  nation  in  the  world ;  the 
nation,  which  was  considered  in  the  advance  of  all 
countries  in  dealing  with  economic  and  industrial 
problems,  no  longer  exists.  The  Germany  which 
produced  Bach,  Beethoven,  Schiller,  Goethe  and 
other  great  musicians  and  poets  has  disappeared. 
The  musicians  of  to-day  write  hate  songs.  The 
poets  of  to-day  pen  hate  verses.  The  scientists 
of  to-day  plan  diabolical  instruments  of  death. 
The  educators  teach  suspicion  of  and  disregard 
for  everything  which  is  not  German.  Business 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  235 

men  have  sided  with  the  Government  in  a  ruthless 
submarine  warfare  in  order  to  destroy  property 
throughout  the  world  so  that  every  nation  will 
have  to  begin  at  the  bottom  with  Germany  when 
the  war  is  over. 

The  Germany  of  1914  and  1915  which  arose  like 
one  man  to  defend  the  nation  is  not  the  Germany 
which  to-day  is  down  on  the  whole  world  and 
which  believes  that  its  organised  might  can  de- 
fend it  against  every  and  all  nations.  The  Ger- 
many I  saw  in  1915,  composed  of  sympathetic, 
calm,  charitable,  patient  people  is  to-day  a  Ger- 
many made  up  of  nervous,  impatient,  deceptive 
and  suspicious  people. 

From  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  to  February, 
1917,  President  Wilson  maintained  diplomatic  re- 
lations with  Germany  in  order  to  aid  the  demo- 
cratic forces  which  were  working  in  that  country 
to  throw  out  the  poison  which  forty  years  of 
army  preparation  had  diffused  throughout  the  na- 
tion. President  Wilson  believed  that  he  could  re- 
ly upon  the  Chancellor  as  a  leader  of  democracy 
against  von  Tirpitz  and  von  Falkenhayn,  as  lead- 
ers of  German  autocracy.  The  Chancellor  knew 
the  President  looked  upon  him  as  the  man  to  re- 
form Germany.  But  when  the  crisis  came  the 
Chancellor  was  as  weak  as  the  Kaiser  and  both 
of  them  sanctioned  and  defended  what  von  Hin- 
denburg  and  Ludendorf,  the  ammunition  interests 
and  the  navy,  proposed. 

If  the  United  States  were  to  disregard  absolute- 


236     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ly  every  argument  which  the  Allies  have  for  fight- 
ing Germany  there  would  still  be  so  many  Ameri- 
can indictments  against  the  German  Government 
that  no  American  could  have  a  different  opinion 
from  that  of  President  Wilson. 

Germany  sank  the  Lusitania  and  killed  over 
100  Americans  and  never  apologised  for  it. 

Germany  sank  the  Ancona,,  killed  more  Ameri- 
cans and  blamed  Austria. 

Germany  sank  the  Arabic  and  torpedoed  the 
Sussex. 

Germany  promised  after  the  sinking  of  the  Sus- 
sex to  warn  all  merchant  ships  before  torpedoing 
them  and  then  in  practice  threw  the  pledges  to  the 
winds  and  ended  by  breaking  all  promises. 

Germany  started  anti- American  propaganda  in 
Germany. 

The  German  Government  made  the  German 
people  suspect  and  hate  President  Wilson. 

Germany  supplied  Russia  and  Roumania  with 
arms  and  ammunition  and  criticised  America  for 
permitting  American  business  men  to  aid  the  Al- 
lies. 

Germany  plotted  against  American  factories. 

Germany  tried  to  stir  up  a  revolt  in  Mexico. 

Germany  tried  to  destroy  American  ammuni- 
tion factories. 

Germany  blamed  the  United  States  for  her  food 
situation  without  explaining  to  the  people  that 
one  of  the  reasons  the  pork  supply  was  exhausted 
and  there  was  no  sugar  was  because  Minister  of 


THE  OUTLAWED  NATION  237 

the  Interior  Delbrueck  ordered  the  fanners  to 
feed  sugar  to  the  pigs  and  then  to  slaughter  them 
in  order  to  save  the  fodder. 

Germany  encouraged  and  financed  German- 
Americans  in  their  campaigns  in  the  United 
States. 

Germany  paid  American  writers  for  anti- 
American  contributions  to  German  newspapers 
and  for  pro-German  articles  in  the  American 
press. 

Germany  prohibited  American  news  associa- 
tions from  printing  unbiased  American  news  in 
Germany. 

Germany  discriminated  against  and  blacklisted 
American  firms  doing  business  in  Germany. 

Germany  prevented  American  correspondents 
from  sending  true  despatches  from  Berlin  during 
every  submarine  crisis. 

Germany  insulted  American  women,  even  the 
wives  of  American  consular  officials,  when  they 
crossed  the  German  border. 

Germany  threatened  the  United  States  with 
a  Russian-Japanese-German-Mexican  alliance 
against  England  and  the  United  States. 

German  generals  insulted  American  military 
observers  at  the  front  and  the  U.  S.  War  Depart- 
ment had  to  recall  them. 

These  are  Uncle  Sam's  indictments  of  the 
Kaiser. 

Germany  has  outlawed  herself  among  all  na- 
tions. 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE   UNITED   STATES   AT   WAR 

WHEN  the  German  Emperor  in  his  New 
Year's  message  said  that  victory  would 
remain  with  Germany  in  1917  he  must 
have  known  that  the  submarine  war  would  be  in- 
augurated to  help  bring  this  victory  to  Germany. 
In  May,  1916,  Admiral  von  Capelle  explained  to 
the  Reichstag  that  the  reason  the  German  block- 
ade of  England  could  not  be  maintained  was  be- 
cause Germany  did  not  have  sufficient  submarines. 
But  by  December  the  Kaiser,  who  receives  all  the 
figures  of  the  Navy,  undoubtedly  knew  that  sub- 
marines were  being  built  faster  than  any  other 
type  of  ship  and  that  the  Navy  was  making  ready 
for  the  grand  sea  offensive  in  1917.  Knowing  this, 
as  well  as  knowing  that  President  Wilson  would 
break  diplomatic  relations  if  the  submarine  war 
was  conducted  ruthlessly  again,  the  Kaiser  was 
a  very  confident  ruler  to  write  such  a  New  Year's 
order  to  the  Army  and  Navy.  He  must  have  felt 
sure  that  he  could  defeat  the  United  States. 

Ambassador  Gerard  warned  the  State  Depart- 
ment in  September  that  Germany  would  start  her 
submarine  war  before  the  Spring  of  1917  so  the 

238 


To  My  Army  and  My  Navy! 

Once  more  a  war  year  lies  behind  us,  replete 
with  hard  fighting  and  sacrifices,  rich  in  successes 
and  victories. 

Our  enemies '  hopes  for  the  year  1916  have  been 
blasted.  All  their  assaults  in  the  East  and  West 
were  broken  to  pieces  through  your  bravery  and 
devotion ! 

The  latest  triumphal  march  through  Roumania 
has,  by  God's  decree,  again  pinned  imperishable 
laurels  to  your  standards. 

The  greatest  naval  battle  of  this  war,  the  Ska- 
ger  Rak  victory,  and  the  bold  exploits  of  the  U- 
boats  have  assured  to  My  Navy  glory  and  admira- 
tion for  all  time. 

You  are  victorious  on  all  theatres  of  war, 
ashore  as  well  as  afloat! 

With  unshaken  trust  and  proud  confidence  the 
grateful  Fatherland  regards  you.  The  incompa- 
rable warlike  spirit  dwelling  in  your  ranks,  your 
tenacious,  untiring  will  to  victory,  your  love  for 
the  Fatherland  are  guaranties  to  Me  that  victory 
will  remain  with  our  colours  in  the  new  year  also. 

God  will  be  with  us  further! 

Main  Headquarters,  Dec.  31, 1916. 

WILHKLM. 


THE  KAISER'S  NEW  YEAR  ORDER  TO  THE  ARMY  AND  NAVY 


240    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

United  States  must  have  known  several  months 
before  the  official  announcement  came.  But 
Washington  probably  was  under  the  impression 
that  the  Chancellor  would  not  break  his  word. 
Uncle  Sam  at  that  time  trusted  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg. 

Diplomatic  relations  were  broken  on  February 
1st.  Ambassador  Gerard  departed  February 
10th.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Switzerland  several 
German  citizens,  living  in  that  country  because 
they  could  not  endure  conditions  at  home,  asked 
the  Ambassador  upon  his  arrival  in  Washington 
to  urge  President  Wilson  if  he  asked  Congress  to 
declare  war  to  say  that  the  United  States  did  not 
desire  to  go  to  war  with  the  German  people  but 
with  the  German  Government.  One  of  these  citi- 
zens was  a  Prussian  nobleman  by  birth  but  he  had 
been  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  democratic  forces 
in  Germany  and  exiled  himself  in  order  to  help 
the  Liberal  movement  among  the  people  by  work- 
ing in  Switzerland.  This  suggestion  was  followed 
by  the  President.  When  he  spoke  to  the  joint 
session  of  Congress  on  February  1st  he  declared 
the  United  States  would  wage  war  against  the 
Government  and  not  against  the  people.  In  this 
historic  address  the  President  said : 

"I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary 
session  because  there  are  serious,  very  serious, 
choices  of  policy  to  be  made,  and  made  immedi- 
ately, which  it  was  neither  right  nor  constitu- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR 

tionally  permissible  that  I  should  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility of  making. 

''On  the  3rd  of  February  last  I  officially  laid 
before  you  the  extraordinary  announcement  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government,  that  on  and  after 
the  1st  day  of  February  it  was  its  purpose  to  put 
aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of  humanity  and  use 
its  submarines  to  sink  every  vessel  that  sought  to 
approach  either  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  or  the  western  coasts  of  Europe,  or  any  of 
the  ports  controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany 
within  the  Mediterranean. 

"That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  Ger- 
man submarine  warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but 
since  April  of  last  year  the  imperial  Government 
had  somewhat  restrained  the  commanders  of  its 
under-sea  craft,  in  conformity  with  its  promise 
then  given  to  us  that  passenger  boats  should  not 
be  sunk,  and  that  due  warning  would  be  given  to 
all  other  vessels  which  its  submarines  might  seek 
to  destroy,  when  no  resistance  was  offered  or 
escape  attempted,  and  care  taken  that  their 
crews  were  given  at  least  a  fair  chance  to  save 
their  lives  in  their  open  boats.  The  precautions 
taken  were  meagre  and  haphazard  enough,  as  was 
proved  in  distressing  instance  after  instance  in 
the  progress  of  the  cruel  and  unmanly  business, 
but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was  observed. 

"The  new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction 
aside.  Vessels  of  every  kind,  whatever  their  flag, 
their  character,  their  cargo,  their  destination, 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

their  errand,  have  been  ruthlessly  sent  to  the  bot- 
tom without  warning  and  without  thought  of  help 
or  mercy  for  those  on  board,  the  vessels  of 
friendly  neutrals  along  with  those  of  belligerents. 
Even  hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to 
the  sorely  bereaved  and  stricken  people  of  Bel- 
gium, though  the  latter  were  provided  with  safe 
conduct  through  the  prescribed  areas  by  the  Ger- 
man Government  itself,  and  were  distinguished 
by  unmistakable  marks  of  identity,  have  been  sunk 
with  the  same  reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of 
principle. 

"I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that 
such  things  would  in  fact  be  done  by  any  govern- 
ment that  had  hitherto  subscribed  to  the  humane 
practices  of  civilised  nations.  International  law 
had  its  origin  in  the  attempt  to  set  up  some  law, 
which  would  be  respected  and  observed  upon  the 
seas,  where  no  nation  had  right  of  dominion  and 
where  lay  the  free  highways  of  the  world.  By 
painful  stage  after  stage  has  that  law  been  built 
up,  with  meagre  enough  results,  indeed,  after  all 
was  accomplished  that  could  be  accomplished,  but 
always  with  a  clear  view  at  least  of  what  the  heart 
and  conscience  of  mankind  demanded. 

"This  minimum  of  right  the  German  Govern- 
ment has  swept  aside  under  the  plea  of  retaliation 
and  necessity,  and  because  it  had  no  weapons 
which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these,  which  it  is 
impossible  to  employ  as  it  is  employing  them  with- 
out throwing  to  the  winds  all  scruples  of  humanity 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR 

or  of  respect  for  the  understandings  that  were 
supposed  to  underlie  the  intercourse  of  the  world. 

"I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the  loss  of  property 
involved,  immense  and  serious  as  that  is,  but  only 
of  the  wanton  and  wholesale  destruction  of  the 
lives  of  non-combatants,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, engaged  in  pursuits  which  have  always, 
even  in  the  darkest  periods  of  modern  history, 
been  deemed  innocent  and  legitimate.  Property 
can  be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peaceful  and  innocent 
people  cannot  be. 

"The  present  German  warfare  against  com- 
merce is  a  warfare  against  mankind.  It  is  a  war 
against  all  nations.  American  ships  have  been 
sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways  which  it  has 
stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships 
and  people  of  other  neutral  and  friendly  nations 
have  been  sunk  and  overwhelmed  in  the  waters 
in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no  discrimina- 
tion. The  challenge  is  to  all  mankind.  Each  na- 
tion must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet  it. 
The  choice  we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made 
with  a  moderation  of  counsel  and  a  temperateness 
of  judgment  befitting  our  character  and  our  mo- 
tives as  a  nation.  We  must  put  excited  feeling 
away.  Our  motive  will  not  be  revenge  or  the  vic- 
torious assertion  of  the  physical  might  of  the  na- 
tion, but  only  the  vindication  of  right,  of  human 
right,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single  champion. 

"  When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  February  last  I  thought  that  it  would  suf- 


244     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

fice  to  assert  our  neutral  rights  with  arms,  our 
right  to  use  the  seas  against  unlawful  interfer- 
ence, our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe  against  un- 
lawful violence.  But  armed  neutrality,  it  now 
appears,  is  impracticable. 

"Because  submarines  are  in  effect  outlaws  when 
used  as  the  German  submarines  have  been  used, 
against  merchant  shipping,  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
fend ships  against  their  attacks,  as  the  law  of 
nations  has  assumed  that  merchantmen  would  de- 
fend themselves  against  privateers  or  cruisers, 
visible  craft  giving  chase  upon  the  open  sea.  It 
is  common  prudence  in  such  circumstances — grim 
necessity,  indeed — to  endeavour  to  destroy  them 
before  they  have  shown  their  own  intention.  They 
must  be  dealt  with  upon  sight,  if  dealt  with  at  all. 

"The  German  Government  denies  the  right  of 
neutrals  to  use  arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the 
sea  which  it  has  proscribed,  even  in  the  defence 
of  rights  which  no  modern  publicist  has  ever  be- 
fore questioned  their  right  to  defend.  The  inti- 
mation is  conveyed  that  the  armed  guards  which 
we  have  placed  on  our  merchant  ships  will  be 
treated  as  beyond  the  pale  of  law  and  subject  to 
be  dealt  with  as  pirates  would  be. 

"Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual  enough  at 
best ;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of  such 
pretensions  it  is  worse  than  ineffectual ;  it  is  likely 
to  produce  what  it  was  meant  to  prevent;  it  is 
practically  certain  to  draw  us  into  the  war  without 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        245 

either  the  rights  or  the  effectiveness  of  belliger- 
ents. 

"There  is  one  choice  we  cannot  make,  we  are 
incapable  of  making :  We  will  not  choose  the  path 
of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred  rights 
of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored  or 
violated.  The  wrongs  against  which  we  now  ar- 
ray ourselves  are  not  common  wrongs;  they  cut 
to  the  very  roots  of  human  life. 

"With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even 
tragical  character  of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of 
the  grave  responsibilities  which  it  involves,  but  in 
unhesitating  obedience  to  what  I  deem  my  consti- 
tutional duty,  I  advise  that  the  Congress  declare 
the  recent  course  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war  against 
the  Government  and  people  of  the  United  States ; 
that  it  formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent 
which  has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it,  and  that  it 
take  immediate  steps  not  only  to  put  the  country 
in  a  more  thorough  state  of  defence,  but  also  to 
exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its  resources 
to  bring  the  Government  of  the  German  Empire 
to  terms  and  end  the  war. 

"What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve 
the  utmost  practicable  co-operation  in  counsel  and 
action  with  the  governments  now  at  war  with 
Germany,  and,  as  incident  to  that,  the  extension 
to  those  governments  of  the  most  liberal  financial 
credits  in  order  that  our  resources  may,  so  far  as 
possible,  be  added  to  theirs. 


246     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

"It  will  involve  the  organisation  and  mobilisa- 
tion of  all  the  material  resources  of  the  country 
to  supply  the  materials  of  war  and  serve  the  inci- 
dental needs  of  the  nation  in  the  most  abundant 
and  yet  the  most  economical  and  efficient  way  pos- 
sible. 

"It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment 
of  the  navy  in  all  respects,  but  particularly  in  sup- 
plying it  with  the  best  means  of  dealing  with  the 
enemy's  submarines.  It  will  involve  the  immedi- 
ate addition  to  the  armed  forces  of  the  United 
States,  already  provided  for  by  law  in  case  of 
war,  at  least  500,000  men,  who  should,  in  my  opin- 
ion, be  chosen  upon  the  principle  of  universal  lia- 
bility to  service;  and  also  the  authorisation  of 
subsequent  additional  increments  of  equal  force 
so  soon  as  they  may  be  needed  and  can  be  han- 
dled in  training. 

"It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting  of 
adequate  credits  to  the  Government,  sustained,  I 
hope,  so  far  as  they  can  equitably  be  sustained 
by  the  present  generation,  by  well  conceived  taxa- 
tion. I  say  sustained  so  far  as  may  be  by  equi- 
table taxation  because  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would 
be  most  unwise  to  base  the  credits  which  will  now 
be  necessary  entirely  on  money  borrowed.  It  is 
our  duty,  I  most  respectfully  urge,  to  protect  our 
people  so  far  as  we  may  against  the  very  serious 
hardships  and  evils  which  would  be  likely  to  arise 
out  of  the  inflation  which  would  be  produced  by 
vast  loans. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        247 

"In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these 
things  are  to  be  accomplished  we  should  keep  con- 
stantly in  mind  the  wisdom  of  interfering  as  little 
as  possible  in  our  own  preparation  and  in  the 
equipment  of  our  own  military  forces  with  the 
duty — for  it  will  be  a  very  practical  duty — of 
supplying  the  nations  already  at  war  with  Ger- 
many with  the  materials  which  they  can  obtain 
only  from  us  or  by  our  assistance.  They  are  in 
the  field,  and  we  should  help  them  in  every  way  to 
be  effective  there. 

* '  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through 
the  several  executive  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment, for  the  consideration  of  your  committees 
measures  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  several 
objects  I  have  mentioned.  I  hope  that  it  will  be 
your  pleasure  to  deal  with  them  as  having  been 
framed  after  very  careful  thought  by  the  branch 
of  the  Government  upon  which  the  responsibility 
of  conducting  the  war  and  safeguarding  the  na- 
tion will  most  directly  fall. 

"While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  mo- 
mentous things,  let  us  be  very  clear,  and  make 
very  clear  to  all  the  world  what  our  motives  and 
our  objects  are.  My  own  thought  has  not  been 
driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal  course  by  the 
unhappy  events  of  the  last  two  months,  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  thought  of  the  nation  has  been 
altered  or  clouded  by  them. 

"I  have  exactly  the  same  thing  in  mind  now 
that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Senate 


248     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

on  the  22d  of  January  last;  the  same  that  I  had 
in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  3d 
of  February  and  on  the  26th  of  February.  Our 
object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  principles 
of  peace  and  the  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world 
as  against  selfish  and  autocratic  power  and  to  set 
up  among  the  really  free  and  self -governed  peo- 
ples of  the  world  such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  of 
action  as  will  henceforth  insure  the  observance 
of  those  principles. 

"Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable 
where  the  peace  of  the  world  is  involved  and  the 
freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the  menace  to  that 
peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of  auto- 
cratic governments  backed  by  organised  force 
which  is  controlled  wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the 
will  of  their  people.  We  have  seen  the  last  of 
neutrality  in  such  circumstances. 

"We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which 
it  will  be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of  con- 
duct and  of  responsibility  for  wrong  done  shall 
be  observed  among  nations  and  their  governments 
that  are  observed  among  the  individual  citizens 
of  civilised  states. 

"We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people. 
We  have  no  feeling  toward  them  but  one  of  sym- 
pathy and  friendship.  It  was  not  upon  their  im- 
pulse that  their  government  acted  in  entering  this 
war.  It  was  not  with  their  previous  knowledge 
or  approval. 

"It  was  a  war  determined  upon  as  wars  used 


We.  2 

ilte  Sfiblatt 


inn  14.  Jcn.ar  1*17 


•01  6itr  |>I1I*I  Bilk.* 


SCHWAB  TO  MR.  WILSON — "FOR  HEAVEN'S  SAKE, 
GREAT  LITTLE  LEADER,  THE  WHOLE  PLACE  WILL 
BLOW  UP  IF  YOU  SMOKE  HERE1." 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        249 

to  be  determined  upon  in  the  old  unhappy  days 
when  peoples  were  nowhere  consulted  by  their 
rulers  and  wars  were  provoked  and  waged  in  the 
interest  of  dynasties  or  of  little  groups  of  ambi- 
tious men  who  were  accustomed  to  use  their  fel- 
lowmen  as  pawns  and  tools. 

11  Self  -governed  nations  do  not  fill  their  neigh- 
bour states  with  spies  or  set  the  course  of  in- 
trigue to  bring  about  some  critical  posture  of 
affairs  which  will  give  them  an  opportunity  to 
strike  and  make  conquest.  Such  designs  can  be 
successfully  worked  only  under  cover  and  where 
no  one  has  the  right  to  ask  questions. 

' '  Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or  ag- 
gression, carried,  it  may  be,  from  generation  to 
generation,  can  be  worked  out  and  kept  from  the 
light  only  within  the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind 
the  carefully  guarded  confidences  of  a  narrow  and 
privileged  class.  They  are  happily  impossible 
where  public  opinion  commands  and  insists  upon 
full  information  concerning  all  the  nation's  af- 
fairs. 

"A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be 
maintained  except  by  a  partnership  of  democratic 
nations.  No  autocratic  government  could  be 
trusted  to  keep  faith  within  it  or  observe  its 
covenants. 

"It  must  be  a  league  of  honour,  a  partnership 
of  opinion.  Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals  away; 
the  plottings  of  inner  circles  who  could  plan  what 


250     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

they  would  and  render  account  to  no  one  would 
be  a  corruption  seated  at  its  very  heart. 

''Only  free  peoples  can  hold  their  purpose  and 
their  honour  steady  to  a  common  end  and  prefer 
the  interests  of  mankind  to  any  narrow  interest 
of  their  own. 

"Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance 
has  been  added  to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace 
of  the  world  by  the  wonderful  and  heartening 
things  that  have  been  happening  within  the  last 
few  weeks  in  Eussia  ? 

"Russia  was  known  by  those  who  knew  it  best 
to  have  been  always  in  fact  democratic  at  heart, 
in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her  thought,  in  all  the 
intimate  relationships  of  her  people  that  spoke 
for  their  natural  instinct,  their  habitual  attitude 
toward  life. 

"Autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of  her  po- 
litical structure,  long  as  it  had  stood  and  terrible 
as  was  the  reality  of  its  power,  was  not  in  fact 
Russian  in  origin,  in  character  or  purpose,  and 
now  it  has  been  shaken,  and  the  great,  generous 
Russian  people  have  been  added  in  all  their  na- 
tive majesty  and  might  to  the  forces  that  are 
fighting  for  freedom  in  the  world,  for  justice  and 
for  peace.  Here  is  a  fit  partner  for  a  league  of 
honour. 

'  *  One  of  the  things  that  have  served  to  convince 
us  that  the  Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could 
never  be  our  friend  is  that  from  the  very  outset 
of  the  present  war  it  has  filled  our  unsuspecting 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        251 

communities  and  even  our  offices  of  government 
with  spies,  and  set  criminal  intrigues  everywhere 
afoot  against  our  national  unity  of  council,  our* 
peace  within  and  without,  our  industries  and  our 
commerce. 

"Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were 
here  even  before  the  war  began ;  and  it  is  unhap- 
pily not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  a  fact  proved 
in  our  courts  of  justice,  that  the  intrigues,  which 
have  more  than  once  come  perilously  near  to  dis- 
turbing the  peace  and  dislocating  the  industries 
of  the  country,  have  been  carried  on  at  the  insti- 
gation, with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  per- 
sonal direction,  of  official  agents  of  the  imperial 
Government  accredited  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States. 

"Even  in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to 
extirpate  them  we  have  sought  to  put  the  most 
generous  interpretation  possible  upon  them,  be- 
cause we  knew  that  their  source  lay,  not  in  any 
hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  German  people 
toward  us  (who  were,  no  doubt,  as  ignorant  of 
them  as  we  ourselves  were),  but  only  in  the  selfish 
designs  of  a  government  that  did  what  it  pleased 
and  told  its  people  nothing.  But  they  have  played 
their  part  in  serving  to  convince  us  at  last  that 
that  Government  entertains  no  real  friendship  for 
us,  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace  and  se- 
curity at  its  convenience. 

"That  it  means  to  stir  up  enemies  against  us 
at  our  very  doors  the  intercepted  note  to  the  Ger- 


252     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

man  Minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

"We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile 
purpose  because  we  know  that  in  such  a  govern- 
ment, following  such  methods,  we  can  never  have 
a  friend,  and  that  in  the  presence  of  its  organised 
power,  always  lying  in  wait  to  accomplish  we 
know  not  what  purpose,  there  can  be  no  assured 
security  for  the  democratic  governments  of  the 
world. 

"We  are  now  about  to  accept  gage  of  battle 
with  this  natural  foe  to  liberty  and  shall,  if  neces- 
sary, spend  the  whole  force  of  the  nation  to  check 
and  nullify  its  pretensions  and  its  power.  We  are 
glad,  now  that  we  see  the  facts  with  no  veil  of 
false  pretence  about  them,  to  fight  thus  for  the 
ultimate  peace  of  the  world  and  for  the  liberation 
of  its  peoples,  the  German  peoples  included,  for 
the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small,  and  the 
privilege  of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way 
of  life  and  of  obedience. 

"The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy. 
Its  peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  trusted  foun- 
dations of  political  liberty. 

"We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We  desire 
no  conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indem- 
nities for  ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for 
the  sacrifices  we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  but 
one  of  the  champions  of  the  rights  of  mankind. 
We  shall  be  satisfied  when  those  rights  have  been 
as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the  freedom  of  the  na- 
tion can  make  them. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        253 

"Just  because  we  fight  without  rancour  and 
without  selfish  objects,  seeking  nothing  for  our- 
selves but  what  we  shall  wish  to  share  with  all 
free  peoples,  we  shall,  I  feel  confident,  conduct  our 
operations  as  belligerents  without  passion  and 
ourselves  observe  with  proud  punctilio  the  prin- 
ciples of  right  and  of  fair  play  we  profess  to  be 
fighting  for. 

"I  have  said  nothing  of  the  governments  allied 
with  the  imperial  Government  of  Germany,  be- 
cause they  have  not  made  war  upon  us  or  chal- 
lenged us  to  defend  our  right  and  our  honour. 
The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  has,  indeed, 
avowed  its  unqualified  indorsement  and  accept- 
ance of  the  reckless  and  lawless  submarine  war- 
fare adopted  now  without  disguise  by  the  imperial 
Government,  and  it  has  therefore  not  been  pos- 
sible for  this  Government  to  receive  Count  Tar- 
nowski,  the  ambassador  recently  accredited  to  this 
Government  by  the  imperial  and  royal  Govern- 
ment of  Austria-Hungary,  but  that  Government 
has  not  actually  engaged  in  warfare  against  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  on  the  seas,  and  I  take 
the  liberty,  for  the  present  at  least,  of  postponing 
a  discussion  of  our  relations  with  the  authorities 
at  Vienna.  We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are 
clearly  forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other 
means  of  defending  our  rights. 

' '  It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  our- 
selves as  belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and 
fairness  because  we  act  without  animus,  not  in 


254    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

enmity  toward  a  people  or  with  the  desire  to  ftring 
any  injury  or  disadvantage  upon  them,  but  only 
in  armed  opposition  to  an  irresponsible  govern- 
ment which  has  thrown  aside  all  considerations 
of  humanity  and  of  right  and  is  running  amuck. 

"We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends 
of  the  German  people,  and  shall  desire  nothing  so 
much  as  the  early  re-establishment  of  intimate 
relations  of  mutual  advantage  between  us — how- 
ever hard  it  may  be  for  them,  for  the  time  being, 
to  believe  that  this  is  spoken  from  our  hearts. 
We  have  borne  with  their  present  Government 
through  all  these  bitter  months  because  of  that 
friendship — exercising  a  patience  and  forbear- 
ance which  would  otherwise  have  been  impossible. 

"We  shall,  happily,  still  have  an  opportunity  to 
prove  that  friendship  in  our  daily  attitude  and  ac- 
tions toward  the  millions  of  men  and  women  of 
German  birth  and  native  sympathy  who  live 
amongst  us  and  share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be 
proud  to  prove  it  toward  all  who  are  in  fact  loyal 
to  their  neighbours  and  to  the  Government  in  the 
hour  of  test.  They  are,  most  of  them,  as  true  and 
loyal  Americans  as  if  they  had  never  known  any 
other  fealty  or  allegiance.  They  will  be  prompt 
to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and  restraining  the 
few  who  may  be  of  a  different  mind  and  purpose. 

"If  there  should  be  disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt 
with  with  a  firm  hand  of  stern  repression ;  but  if 
it  lifts  its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only  here  and 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR         255 

there,  and  without  countenance,  except  from  a 
lawless  and  malignant  few. 

"It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  Congress,  which  I  have  performed 
in  thus  addressing  you.  There  are,  it  may  be, 
many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice  ahead  of 
us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great  peace- 
ful people  into  war,  into  the  most  terrible  and 
disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilisation  itself  seeming 
to  be  in  the  balance. 

"But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and 
we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always 
carried  nearest  our  hearts — for  democracy,  for 
the  right  of  those  who  submit  to  authority  to  have 
a  voice  in  their  own  governments,  for  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  small  nations,  for  a  universal 
dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  peo- 
ples as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations 
and  make  the  world  itself  at  last  free. 

"To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and 
our  fortunes,  everything  that  we  are  and  every- 
thing that  we  have,  with  the  pride  of  those  who 
know  that  the  day  has  come  when  America  is 
privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her  might  for 
the  principles  that  gave  her  birth  and  happiness 
and  the  peace  which  she  has  treasured.  God  help- 
ing her,  she  can  do  no  other." 

After  this  speech  was  printed  in  Germany,  first 
in  excerpts  and  then  as  a  whole  in  a  few  papers, 
there  were  three  distinct  reactions : 


256    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

1.  The  Government  press  and  the  circles  con- 
trolled by  the  Army  published  violent  articles 
against  President  Wilson  and  the  United  States. 

2.  The  democratic  press  led  by  the  Vorwaerts 
took  advantage  of  Wilson's  statements  to  again 
demand  election  reforms. 

3.  Public  feeling  generally  was  so  aroused  that 
the  official  North  German  Gazette  said  at  the  end 
of  a  long  editorial  that  the  Kaiser  favoured  a 
1  'people's  kingdom  of  Hohenzollern. " 

The  ammunition  interests  were  among  the  first 
to  express  their  satisfaction  with  America  as  an 
enemy.  The  Rheinische  Westfaelische  Zeitung, 
their  official  graphophone,  said: 

"The  real  policy  of  America  is  now  fully  dis- 
closed by  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Now  a  flood 
of  lies  and  insults,  clothed  in  pious  phraseology, 
will  descend  on  us.  This  is  a  surprise  only  to 
those  who  have  been  reluctant  to  admit  that 
America  was  our  enemy  from  the  beginning.  The 
voice  of  America  does  not  sound  differently  from 
that  of  any  other  enemy.  They  are  all  tarred  with 
the  same  brush — those  humanitarians  and  demo- 
crats who  hurl  the  world  into  war  and  refuse 
peace. ' ' 

The  Lokal  Anzeiger,  which  is  practically  edited 
by  the  Foreign  Office,  said  President  Wilson's  at- 
tempt to  "inveigle  the  German  people  into  a  re- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        257 

volt  against  the  dynasty  beats  anything  for  sheer 
hypocrisy  in  the  records  of  the  world. 

"We  must  assume  that  President  Wilson  delib- 
erately tells  an  untruth.  Not  the  German  Gov- 
ernment but  the  German  race,  hates  this  Anglo- 
Saxon  fanatic,  who  has  stirred  into  flame  the  con- 
suming hatred  in  America  while  prating  friend- 
ship and  sympathy  for  the  German  people." 

The  Lokal  Anzeiger  was  right  when  it  said  the 
German  people  hated  America.  The  Lokal  An- 
zeiger was  one  of  the  means  the  Government  used 
to  make  the  German  paople  hate  the  United 
States. 

The  North  German  Gazette,  which  prints  only 
editorials  dictated,  or  authorised  by,  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  said: 

11 A  certain  phrase  in  President  Wilson's  speech 
must  be  especially  pointed  out.  The  President 
represents  himself  as  the  bearer  of  true  freedom 
to  our  people  who  are  engaged  in  a  severe  strug- 
gle for  their  existence  and  liberty.  WTiat  slave 
soul  does  he  believe  exists  in  the  German  people 
when  it  thinks  that  it  will  allow  its  freedom  to  be 
meted  out  to  them  from  without?  The  freedom 
which  our  enemies  have  in  store  for  us  we  know 
sufficiently. 

"The  German  people,  become  clearsighted  in 
war,  and  see  in  President  Wilson's  word  nothing 
but  an  attempt  to  loosen  the  bonds  between  the 
people  and  princes  of  Germany  so  that  we  may 


258    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

become  an  easier  prey  for  our  enemies.  We  our- 
selves know  that  an  important  task  remains  to  us 
to  consolidate  our  external  power  and  our  free- 
dom at  home." 

But  the  mask  fell  from  the  face  of  Germany 
which  she  shows  the  outside  world,  when  the 
Kaiser  issued  his  Easter  proclamation  promising 
election  reforms  after  the  war.  Why  did  the 
Kaiser  issue  this  proclamation  again  at  this  time  ? 
As  early  as  January,  1916,  he  said  the  same  thing 
to  the  German  people  in  his  address  from  the 
throne  to  the  Prussian  Diet.  Why  did  the  Kaiser 
feel  that  it  was  necessary  to  again  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  to  the  fact  that  he  would  be  a 
democrat  when  the  war  was  over?  The  Kaiser 
and  the  German  army  are  clever  in  dealing  with 
the  German  people.  If  the  Kaiser  makes  a  mis- 
take or  does  something  that  his  army  does  not 
approve  it  can  always  be  remedied  before  the  mis- 
take becomes  public. 

Last  Fall  a  young  German  soldier  who  had 
been  in  the  United  States  as  a  moving  picture 
operator  was  called  to  the  General  Staff  to  take 
moving  pictures  at  the  front  for  propaganda  pur- 
poses. One  week  he  was  ordered  to  Belgium,  to 
follow  and  photograph  His  Majesty.  At  Ostend, 
the  famous  Belgian  summer  resort,  the  Kaiser 
was  walking  along  the  beach  one  day  with  Ad- 
miral von  Schroeder,  wrho  is  in  command  of  the 
German  defences  there.  The  movie  operator  fol- 
lowed him.  The  soldier  had  been  following  the 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        259 

Kaiser  several  days  so  His  Majesty  recognised 
Mm,  ordered  him  to  put  up  his  camera  and  pre- 
pare to  make  a  special  film.  When  the  camera 
was  ready  His  Majesty  danced  a  jig,  waved  his 
sceptre  and  then  his  helmet,  smiled  and  shouted 
greetings  to  the  camera  man — then  went  on  along 
the  beach. 

When  the  photographer  reached  Berlin  and 
showed  the  film  to  the  censors  of  the  General  Staff 
they  were  shocked  by  the  section  of  the  Kaiser  at 
Ostend.  They  ordered  it  cut  out  of  the  film  be- 
cause they  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  show  the 
German  people  how  much  their  Emperor  was  en- 
joying the  war! 

The  Kaiser  throughout  his  reign  has  posed  as 
a  peace  man  although  he  has  been  first  a  soldier 
and  then  an  executive.  So  when  the  Big  War 
broke  out  the  Kaiser  had  a  chance  to  make  real 
what  had  been  play  for  him  for  forty  years.  Is 
it  surprising  then  that  he  should  urge  the  people 
to  go  on  with  the  war  and  promise  them  to  re- 
form the  government  when  the  fighting  was 
over? 

The  Kaiser's  proclamation  itself  shows  that 
the  Kaiser  is  not  through  fighting. 

"Never  before  have  the  German  people  proved 
to  be  so  firm  as  in  this  war.  The  knowledge  that 
the  Fatherland  is  fighting  in  bitter  self  defence 
has  exercised  a  wonderful  reconciling  power,  and, 
despite  all  sacrifices  on  the  battlefield  and  severe 


260     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

privations  at  home,  their  determination  has  re- 
mained imperturbable  to  stake  their  last  for  the 
victorious  issue." 

Could  any  one  except  a  soldier  who  was  pleased 
with  the  progress  of  the  war  have  written  such 
words  f 

"The  national  and  social  spirit  have  under- 
stood each  other  and  become  united,  and  have 
given  us  steadfast  strength.  Both  of  them  realise 
what  was  built  up  in  long  years  of  peace  and  amid 
many  internal  struggles.  This  was  certainly 
worth  fighting  for/'  the  Emperor's  order  con- 
tinued. "  Brightly  before  my  eyes  stand  the 
achievements  of  the  entire  nation  in  battle  and 
distress.  The  events  of  this  struggle  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  empire  introduce  with  high  solem- 
nity a  new  time. 

"It  falls  to  you  as  the  responsible  Chancellor  of 
the  German  Empire  and  First  Minister  of  my 
Government  in  Prussia  to  assist  in  obtaining  the 
fulfilment  of  the  demands  of  this  hour  by  right 
means  and  at  the  right  time,  and  in  this  spirit 
shape  our  political  life  in  order  to  make  room  for 
the  free  and  joyful  co-operation  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  our  people. 

"The  principles  which  you  have  developed  in 
this  respect  have,  as  you  know,  my  approval. 

"I  feel  conscious  of  remaining  thereby  on  the 
road  which  my  grandfather,  the  founder  of  the 


^riegenummer  130. 


Wochenbeilage  zum  Berliner  Tageblatt 
45.  Jahrgang  Nr.  46  17.  November  1916 


<Der  neue 


le&e  6cr  Srie6en! 


"THE  NEW  OLD  PRESIDENT.  LONG  LIVE  AMERICA  !  LONG  LIVE  PEACE! 
LONG  LIVE  THE  AMMUNITION  FACTORIES1." 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        261 

empire,  as  King  of  Prussia  with  military  organi- 
sation and  as  German  Emperor  with  social  re- 
form, typically  fulfilled  as  his  monarchial  obliga- 
tions, thereby  creating  conditions  by  which  the 
German  people,  in  united  and  wrathful  persever- 
ance, will  overcome  this  sanguinary  time.  The 
maintenance  of  the  fighting  force  as  a  real  peo- 
ple's army  and  the  promotion  of  the  social  uplift 
of  the  people  in  all  its  classes  was,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  my  reign,  my  aim. 

"In  this  endeavour,  while  holding  a  just  bal- 
ance between  the  people  and  the  monarchy  to 
serve  the  welfare  of  the  whole,  I  am  resolved  to 
begin  building  up  our  internal  political,  economic, 
and  social  life  as  soon  as  the  war  situation  per- 
mits. 

"While  millions  of  our  fellow-countrymen  are 
in  the  field,  the  conflict  of  opinions  behind  the 
front,  which  is  unavoidable  in  such  a  far-reaching 
change  of  constitution,  must  be  postponed  in  the 
highest  interests  of  the  Fatherland  until  the  time 
of  the  homecoming  of  our  warriors  and  when  they 
themselves  are  able  to  join  in  the  counsel  and  the 
voting  on  the  progress  of  the  new  order. ' ' 

It  was  but  natural  that  the  Socialists  should 
hail  this  declaration  of  the  Kaiser's  at  first  with 
enthusiasm. 

"Internal  freedom  in  Prussia — that  is  a  goal 
for  which  for  more  than  one  hundred  years  the 
best  heads  and  best  forces  in  the  nation  have 


262     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

worked.  Resurrection  day  of  the  third  war  year 
— will  go  down  in  history  as  the  day  of  the  resur- 
rection of  old  Prussia  to  a  new  development," 
said  the  Vorwaerts. 

"It  has  brought  us  a  promise,  to  be  sure;  not 
the  resurrection  itself,  but  a  promise  which  is 
more  hopeful  and  certain  than  all  former  an- 
nouncements together.  This  proclamation  can 
never  be  annulled  and  lapse  into  dusty  archives. 

"This  message  promises  us  a  thorough  reform 
of  the  Prussian  three  class  electoral  system  in  ad- 
dition to  a  reform  of  the  Prussian  Upper  House. 
In  the  coming  new  orientation  the  Government 
is  only  one  factor,  another  is  Parliament;  the 
third  and  decisive  factor  is  the  people." 

Other  Berlin  newspapers  spoke  in  a  similar 
vein  but  not  one  of  them  pointed  out  to  the  public 
the  fact  that  this  concession  by  the  Kaiser  was 
not  made  in  such  a  definite  form,  until  the  United 
States  had  declared  war.  As  the  United  States 
entered  the  war  to  aid  the  democratic  movement 
in  Germany  this  concession  by  the  Kaiser  may  be 
considered  our  first  victory. 

As  days  go  by  it  becomes  more  and  more  evi- 
dent that  the  American  declaration  of  war  is  hav- 
ing an  important  influence  upon  internal  condi- 
tions in  Germany  just  as  the  submarine  notes  had. 
The  German  people  really  did  not  begin  to  think 
during  this  war  until  President  Wilson  challenged 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        263 

them  in  the  notes  which  followed  the  torpedoing 
of  the  Lusitania.  And  now  with  the  United  States 
at  war  not  only  the  people  but  the  Government 
have  decided  to  do  some  thinking. 

By  April  12th  when  reports  began  to  reach 
Germany  of  America's  determination  to  fight 
until  there  was  a  democracy  in  Germany  the  dem- 
ocratic press  began  to  give  more  serious  consid- 
eration to  America's  alliance  with  the  Allies.  Dr. 
Ludwig  Haas,  one  of  the  Socialist  members  of  the 
Reichstag,  in  an  article  in  the  Berlin  Tageblatt 
made  the  following  significant  statements. 

"One  man  may  be  a  hypocrite,  but  never  a 
whole  nation.  If  the  American  people  accept  this 
message  [President  Wilson's  address  before 
Congress]  without  a  protest,  then  a  tremendous 
abyss  separates  the  logic  of  Germans  from  that  of 
other  nations. 

"Woodrow  Wilson  is  not  so  far  wrong  if  he 
means  the  planning  of  war  might  be  prevented  if 
the  people  asserted  the  right  to  know  everything 
about  the  foreign  policies  of  their  countries.  But 
the  President  seems  blind  to  the  fact  that  a  hand- 
ful of  men  have  made  it  their  secret  and  uncon- 
trolled business  to  direct  the  fate  of  the  European 
democracies.  With  the  press  at  one's  command 
one  can  easily  drive  a  poor  people  to  a  mania  of 
enthusiasm,  when  they  will  carry  on  their  shoul- 
ders the  criminals  who  have  led  to  the  brink  of 
disaster." 


GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

Dr.  Haas  was  beginning  to  understand  that  the 
anti-American  campaign  in  Germany  which  the 
Navy  started  and  the  Foreign  Office  encouraged, 
had  had  some  effect. 

Everything  the  United  States  does  from  now  on 
will  have  a  decisive  influence  in  the  world  war. 
The  Allies  realise  it  and  Washington  knows  it. 
Mr.  Lloyd-George,  the  British  Prime  Minister, 
realised  what  a  decisive  effect  American  ships 
would  have,  when  he  said  at  the  banquet  of  the 
American  Luncheon  Club  in  London: 

"The  road  to  victory,  the  guaranty  of  victory, 
the  absolute  assurance  of  victory,  has  to  be  found 
in  one  word,  'ships,'  and  a  second  word,  'ships,' 
and  a  third  word,  'ships.' 

But  our  financial  economic  and  military  aid  to 
the  Allies  will  not  be  our  greatest  contribution 
towards  victory.  The  influence  of  President  Wil- 
son's utterances,  of  our  determination  and  of  our 
value  as  a  friendly  nation  after  the  war  will  have 
a  tremendous  effect  as  time  goes  on  upon  the 
German  people.  As  days  and  weeks  pass,  as  the 
victory  which  the  German  Government  has  prom- 
ised the  people  becomes  further  and  further 
away,  the  people,  who  are  now  doing  more  think- 
ing than  they  ever  have  done  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  will  some  day  realise  that  in  order  to 
obtain  peace,  which  they  pray  for  and  hope  for, 
they  will  have  to  reform  their  government  during 
the  war — not  after  the  war  as  the  Kaiser  plans. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AT  WAR        265 

Military  pressure  from  the  outside  is  going  to 
help  this  democratic  movement  in  Germany  suc- 
ceed in  spite  of  itself.  The  New  York  World 
editorial  on  April  14th,  discussing  Mr.  Lloyd- 
George's  statement  that  "Prussia  is  not  a  democ- 
racy; Prussia  is  not  a  state;  Prussia  is  an  army,'* 
said : 

"It  was  the  army  and  the  arrogance  actuating 
it  which  ordered  hostilities  in  the  first  place.  Be- 
cause there  was  no  democracy  in  Prussia,  the 
army  had  its  way.  The  democracies  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  like  the  democracy  of  the 
United  States,  were  reluctant  to  take  arms  but 
were  forced  to  it.  Russian  democracy  found  its 
own  deliverance  on  the  fighting-line. 

"In  the  fact  that  Prussia  is  not  a  democracy 
or  a  state  but  an  army  we  may  see  a  reason  for 
many  things  usually  regarded  as  inexplicable. 
It  is  Prussia  the  army  which  violates  treaties.  It 
is  Prussia  the  army  which  disregards  interna- 
tional law.  It  is  Prussia  the  army,  represented 
by  the  General  Staff  and  the  Admiralty,  which 
sets  at  naught  the  engagements  of  the  Foreign 
Office.  It  is  Prussia  the  army  which  has  filled 
neutral  countries  with  spies  and  lawbreakers, 
which  has  placed  frightfulness  above  humanity, 
and  in  a  fury  of  egotism  and  savagery  has  chal- 
lenged the  world. 

"Under  such  a  terrorism,  as  infamous  at  home 
as  it  is  abroad,  civil  government  has  perished. 


266     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

There  is  no  civil  government  in  a  Germany  dra- 
gooned by  Prussia.  There  is  no  law  in  Germany 
but  military  law.  There  is  no  obligation  in  Ger- 
many except  to  the  army.  It  is  not  Germany  the 
democracy  or  Germany  the  state,  it  is  Germany 
the  army,  that  is  to  be  crushed  for  its  own  good 
no  less  than  for  that  of  civilisation." 

The  United  States  entered  the  war  at  the  psy- 
chological and  critical  moment.  We  enter  it  at 
the  moment  when  our  economic  and  financial  re- 
sources, and  our  determination  will  have  the  de- 
cisive influence.  We  enter  at  the  moment  when 
every  one  of  our  future  acts  will  assist  and  help 
the  democratic  movement  in  Germany  succeed. 


CHAPTER  XII 

PRESIDENT   WILSON 

THE  United  States  entered  the  war  at  a  time 
when  many  Americans  believed  the  Allies 
were  about  to  win  it.  By  May  1st,  1917, 
the  situation  so  changed  in  Europe  that  it  was 
apparent  to  observers  that  only  by  the  most  stu- 
pendous efforts  of  all  the  Allies  could  the  German 
Government  be  defeated. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  when  Teu- 
tonic militarism  spread  over  Europe,  it  was  like 
a  forest  fire.  But  two  years  of  fighting  have 
checked  it — as  woodsmen  check  forest  fires — by 
digging  ditches  and  preventing  the  flames  from 
spreading.  Unlimited  submarine  warfare,  how- 
ever, is  something  new.  It  is  militarism  spread- 
ing to  the  high  seas  and  to  the  shores  of  neutrals. 
It  is  Ruthlessism — the  new  German  menace, 
which  is  as  real  and  dangerous  for  us  and  for 
South  America  as  for  England  and  the  Allies.  If 
we  hold  out  until  Ruthlessism  spends  its  fury,  we 
will  win.  But  we  must  fight  and  fight  desperately 
to  hold  out. 

Dr.  Kaempf,  President  of  the  Reichstag,  de- 
clared that  President  Wilson  would  "bite  mar- 

267 


268     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

ble"  before  the  war  was  over.  And  the  success 
of  submarine  warfare  during  April  and  the  first 
part  of  May  was  such  as  to  arouse  the  whole 
world  to  the  almost  indefinite  possibilities  of  this 
means  of  fighting.  The  real  crisis  of  the  war  has 
not  been  reached.  We  are  approaching  it.  The 
Allies  have  attempted  for  two  years  without  much 
success  to  curb  the  U-boat  danger.  They  have  at- 
tempted to  build  steel  ships,  also  without  success, 
so  that  the  real  burden  of  winning  the  war  in 
Europe  falls  upon  American  shoulders. 

Fortunately  for  the  United  States  we  are  not 
making  the  blunders  at  the  beginning  of  our  in- 
tervention which  some  of  the  European  nations 
have  been  making  since  August,  1914.  America 
is  awakened  to  the  needs  of  modern  war  as  no 
other  nation  was,  thanks  to  the  splendid  work 
which  the  American  newspapers  and  magazines 
have  done  during  the  war  to  present  clearly,  fairly 
and  accurately  not  only  the  great  issues  but  the 
problems  of  organisation  and  military  tactics. 
The  people  of  the  United  States  are  better  in- 
formed about  the  war  as  a  whole  than  are  the 
people  in  any  European  country.  American  news- 
papers have  not  made  the  mistakes  which  English 
and  French  journals  made — of  hating  the  enemy 
so  furiously  as  to  think  that  nothing  more  than 
criticism  and  hate  were  necessary  to  defeat  him. 
Not  until  this  year  could  one  of  Great  Britain's 
statesmen  declare :  "  You  can  damn  the  Germans 


Professor  Charles  Gray  Shaw,  of  New  York  University, 
stated  before  one  of  his  classes  in  philosophy  that  there 
was  a  new  "will"  typified  in  certain  of  our  citizens, 
notably  in  President  Wilson. 

"The  new  psychology,"  said  Professor  Shaw,  "has  dis- 
covered the  new  will — the  will  that  turns  inward  upon 
the  brain  instead  of  passing  out  through  hand  or  tongue. 
Wilson  has  this  new  will ;  the  White  House  corroborates 
the  results  of  the  laboratory.  To  Roosevelt,  Wilson 
seems  weak  and  vacillating;  but  that  is  because  T.  E. 
knows  nothing  about  the  new  will.  T.  E.  has  a  primitive 
mind,  but  one  of  the  most  advanced  type.  In  the  T.  E. 
brain,  so  to  speak,  will  means  set  teeth,  clenched  fist, 
hunting,  and  rough  riding. 

"Wilson  may  be  regarded  as  either  creating  the  new 
volition  or  as  having  discovered  it.  At  any  rate,  Wilson 
possesses  and  uses  the  new  volition,  and  it  remains  to  be 
seen  whether  the  political  world,  at  home  and  abroad,  is 
ready  for  it.  Here  it  is  significant  to  observe  that  the 
Germans,  who  are  psychologists,  recognize  the  fact  that 
a  new  and  important  function  of  the  mind  has  been  fo- 
cused upon  them. 

"The  Germans  fear  and  respect  the  Wilson  will  of 
note  writing  more  than  they  would  have  dreaded  the 
T.  E.  will  with  its  teeth  and  fists." 

As  a  psychologist  Professor  Shaw  observed  what  we 
saw  to  be  the  effect  in  Germany,  of  Mr.  Wilson's  will. 

THE  WILSON  WILL 


270     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

until  you  are  blue  in  the  face,  but  that  will  not 
beat  them." 

The  United  States  enters  the  greatest  war  in 
history  at  the  psychological  moment  with  a  capa- 
ble and  determined  president,  a  united  nation  and 
almost  unlimited  resources  in  men,  money  and 
munitions. 

There  is  a  tremendous  difference  between  the 
situation  in  the  United  States  and  that  in  any 
other  European  country.  During  the  two  years  I 
was  in  Europe  I  visited  every  nation  at  war  ex- 
cept Serbia,  Bulgaria  and  Turkey.  I  saw  condi- 
tions in  the  neutral  countries  of  Holland,  Den- 
mark, Switzerland  and  Spain.  The  one  big  thing 
which  impressed  me  upon  my  arrival  in  New  York 
was  that  the  United  States,  in  contrast  to  all  these 
countries,  has,  as  yet,  not  been  touched  by  the 
war.  Americans  are  not  living  under  the  strain 
and  worry  which  hang  like  dreadful  dull  clouds 
over  every  European  power.  In  Switzerland  the 
economic  worries  and  the  sufferings  of  the  neigh- 
bouring belligerents  have  made  the  Swiss  people 
feel  that  they  are  in  the  centre  of  the  war  itself. 
In  France,  although  Paris  is  gay,  although  peo- 
ple smile  (they  have  almost  forgotten  how  to 
smile  in  Germany),  although  streets  are  crowded, 
and  stores  busy,  the  atmosphere  is  earnest  and 
serious.  Spain  is  torn  by  internal  troubles. 
There  is  a  great  army  of  unemployed.  The  sub- 
marine war  has  destroyed  many  Spanish  ships 
and  interrupted  Spanish  trade  with  belligerents. 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  271 

Business  houses  are  unable  to  obtain  credit.  Ger- 
man propaganda  is  sowing  sedition  and  the  King 
himself  is  uncertain  about  the  future.  But  in  the 
United  States  there  is  a  gigantic  display  of  en- 
ergy and  potential  power  which  makes  this  coun- 
try appear  to  possess  sufficient  force  in  itself  to 
defeat  Germany.  Berlin  is  drained  and  dead  in 
comparison.  Paris,  while  busy,  is  war-busy  and 
every  one  and  everything  seems  to  move  and  live 
because  of  the  war.  In  New  York  and  throughout 
the  country  there  are  young  men  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands.  Germany  and  France  have  no  young 
men  outside  the  armies.  Here  there  are  millions 
of  automobiles  and  millions  of  people  hurrying, 
happy  and  contented,  to  and  from  their  work.  In 
Germany  there  are  no  automobiles  which  are  not 
in  the  service  of  the  Government  and  rubber  tires 
are  so  nearly  exhausted  that  practically  all  auto- 
mobiles have  iron  wheels. 

Some  Americans  have  lived  for  many  years 
with  the  idea  that  only  certain  sections  of  the 
United  States  were  related  to  Europe.  Many 
people,  especially  those  in  the  Middle  West,  have 
had  the  impression  that  only  the  big  shipping 
interests  and  exporters  had  direct  interests  in 
affairs  across  the  ocean.  But  when  Germany  be- 
gan to  take  American  lives  on  the  high  seas,  when 
German  submarines  began  to  treat  American 
ships  like  all  other  belligerent  vessels,  it  began  to 
dawn  upon  people  here  that  this  country  was  very 
closely  connected  to  Europe  by  blood  ties  as  well 


272     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

as  by  business  bonds.  It  has  taken  the  United 
States  two  years  to  learn  that  Europe  was  not, 
after  all,  three  thousand  miles  away  when  it  came 
to  the  vital  moral  issues  of  live  international 
policies.  Before  Congress  declared  war  I  found 
many  Americans  criticising  President  Wilson  for 
not  declaring  war  two  years  ago.  While  I  do  not 
know  what  the  situation  was  during  my  absence 
still  the  impression  which  Americans  abroad  had, 
even  American  officials,  was  that  President  Wil- 
son would  not  have  had  the  support  of  a  united 
people  which  he  has  to-day  had  he  entered  the 
war  before  all  question  of  doubt  regarding  the 
moral  issues  had  disappeared. 

In  the  issue  of  April  14th  of  this  year  the  New 
Republic,  of  New  York,  in  an  editorial  on  "Who 
willed  American  participation?"  cast  an  interest- 
ing light  upon  the  reasons  for  our  intervention  in 
the  Great  War. 

"Pacifist  agitators  who  have  been  so  courage- 
ously opposing,  against  such  heavy  odds,  Ameri- 
can participation  in  the  war  have  been  the  victims 
of  one  natural  but  considerable  mistake,"  says 
The  New  Republic.  "They  have  insisted  that  the 
chief  beneficiaries  of  American  participation 
would  be  the  munition-makers,  bankers  and  in 
general  the  capitalist  class,  that  the  chief  suffer- 
ers would  be  the  petty  business  men  and  the  wage- 
earners.  They  have  consequently  considered  the 
former  classes  to  be  conspiring  in  favour  of  war, 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  273 

and  now  that  war  has  come,  they  condemn  it  as 
the  work  of  a  small  but  powerful  group  of  prof- 
iteers. Senator  Norris  had  some  such  meaning 
in  his  head  when  he  asserted  that  a  declaration 
of  war  would  be  equivalent  to  stamping  the  dollar 
mark  on  the  American  flag. 

"This  explanation  of  the  great  decision  is  an 
absurd  mistake,  but  the  pacifists  have  had  some 
excuses  for  making  it.  They  have  seen  a  great 
democratic  nation  gradually  forced  into  war,  in 
spite  of  the  manifest  indifference  or  reluctance  of 
the  majority  of  its  population;  and  they  have 
rightly  attributed  the  successful  pressure  to  the 
ability  of  a  small  but  influential  minority  to  im- 
pose its  will  on  the  rest  of  the  country.  But  the 
numerically  insignificant  class  whose  influence 
has  been  successfully  exerted  in  favour  of  Ameri- 
can participation  does  not  consist  of  the  bankers 
and  the  capitalists.  Neither  will  they  be  the  chief 
beneficiaries  of  American  participation.  The 
bankers  and  the  capitalists  have  favoured  war, 
but  they  have  favoured  it  without  realising  the 
extent  to  which  it  would  injure  their  own  inter- 
ests, and  their  support  has  been  one  of  the  most 
formidable  political  obstacles  to  American  par- 
ticipation. The  effective  and  decisive  work  on 
behalf  of  war  has  been  accomplished  by  an  en- 
tirely different  class — a  class  which  must  be  com- 
prehensively but  loosely  described  as  the  'intel- 
lectuals. ' 

* '  The  American  nation  is  entering  this  war  un- 


274     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

der  the  influence  of  a  moral  verdict  reached  after 
the  utmost  deliberation  by  the  more  thoughtful 
members  of  the  community.  They  gradually  came 
to  a  decision  that  the  attack  made  by  Germany  on 
the  international  order  was  sufficiently  flagrant 
and  dangerous  to  justify  this  country  in  abandon- 
ing its  cherished  isolation  and  in  using  its  re- 
sources to  bring  about  German  defeat.  But  these 
thoughtful  people  were  always  a  small  minority. 
They  were  able  to  impose  their  will  upon  a  re- 
luctant or  indifferent  majority  partly  because  the 
increasingly  offensive  nature  of  German  military 
and  diplomatic  policy  made  plausible  opposition 
to  American  participation  very  difficult,  but  still 
more  because  of  the  overwhelming  preponderance 
of  pro-Ally  conviction  in  the  intellectual  life  of 
the  country.  If  the  several  important  profes- 
sional and  social  groups  could  have  voted  sepa- 
rately on  the  question  of  war  and  peace,  the  list 
of  college  professors  would  probably  have  yielded 
the  largest  majority  in  favour  of  war,  except  per- 
haps that  contained  in  the  Social  Register.  A 
fighting  anti-German  spirit  was  more  general 
among  physicians,  lawyers  and  clergymen  than 
it  was  among  business  men — except  those  with 
Wall  Street  and  banking  connections.  Finally,  it 
was  not  less  general  among  writers  on  magazines 
and  in  the  newspapers.  They  popularised  what 
the  college  professors  had  been  thinking.  Owing 
to  this  consensus  of  influences  opposition  to  pro- 
Ally  orthodoxy  became  intellectually  somewhat 


PressesTribiine 

nil  *ir/imtt«*a;ii  cle*  lleiclistags 


Nur  gultigani 


iiiiraiiL:  :}  (SommentraSe)  Oder  Eing:uii;  5  (Ki-iolistagsplatz). 
— —    Xieht  nbertragbar!    ^— — i - 


THE  AUTHOR'S  CARD  OF  ADMISSION  TO  THE  REICHSTAG 
ox  APRIL  STH,  1916 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  275 

disreputable,  and  when  a  final  decision  had  to  be 
made  this  factor  counted  with  unprecedented  and 
overwhelming  force.  College  professors  headed 
by  a  President  who  had  himself  been  a  college 
professor  contributed  more  effectively  to  the  de- 
cision in  favour  of  war  than  did  the  farmers,  the 
business  men  or  the  politicians. 

4 'When  one  considers  the  obstacles  to  American 
entrance  into  the  war,  the  more  remarkable  and 
unprecedented  does  the  final  decision  become. 
Every  other  belligerent  had  something  immediate 
and  tangible  to  gain  by  participating  and  to  lose 
by  not  participating.  Either  they  were  invaded 
or  were  threatened  with  invasion.  Either  they 
dreaded  the  loss  of  prestige  or  territory  or  cov- 
eted some  kind  or  degree  of  national  aggrandise- 
ment. Even  Australia  and  Canada,  who  had  little 
or  nothing  to  gain  from  fighting,  could  not  have 
refused  to  fight  without  severing  their  connection 
with  the  British  Empire,  and  behaving  in  a  man- 
ner which  would  have  been  considered  treacher- 
ous by  their  fellow  Britons.  But  the  American 
people  were  not  forced  into  the  war  either  by 
fears  or  hopes  or  previously  recognised  obliga- 
tions. On  the  contrary,  the  ponderable  and  tan- 
gible realities  of  the  immediate  situation  coun- 
selled neutrality.  They  were  revolted  by  the 
hideous  brutality  of  the  war  and  its  colossal 
waste.  Participation  must  be  purchased  with  a 
similarly  colossal  diversion  of  American  energy 
from  constructive  to  destructive  work,  the  imposi- 


276     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

tion  of  a  similarly  heavy  burden  upon  the  future 
production  of  American  labour.  It  implied  the 
voluntary  surrender  of  many  of  those  advan- 
tages which  had  tempted  our  ancestors  to  cross 
the  Atlantic  and  settle  in  the  New  World.  As 
against  these  certain  costs  there  were  no  equally 
tangible  compensations.  The  legal  rights  of 
American  citizens  were,  it  is  true,  being  violated, 
and  the  structure  of  international  law  with  which 
American  security  was  traditionally  associated 
was  being  shivered,  but  the  nation  had  weathered 
a  similar  storm  during  the  Napoleonic  Wars  and 
at  that  time  participation  in  the  conflict  had  been 
wholly  unprofitable.  By  spending  a  small  portion 
of  the  money  which  will  have  to  be  spent  in  help- 
ing the  Allies  to  beat  Germany,  upon  prepara- 
tions exclusively  for  defence,  the  American  na- 
tion could  have  protected  for  the  time  being  the 
inviolability  of  its  own  territory  and  its  necessary 
communications  with  the  Panama  Canal.  Many 
considerations  of  national  egotism  counselled  such 
a  policy.  But  although  the  Hearst  newspapers 
argued  most  persuasively  on  behalf  of  this  course, 
it  did  not  prevail.  The  American  nation  allowed 
itself  to  be  captured  by  those  upon  whom  the 
more  remote  and  less  tangible  reasons  for  par- 
ticipation acted  with  compelling  authority.  For 
the  first  time  in  history  a  wholly  independent  na- 
tion has  entered  a  great  and  costly  war  under  the 
influence  of  ideas  rather  than  immediate  interests 
and  without  any  expectation  of  gains,  except  those 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  277 

which  can  be  shared  with  all  liberal  and  inoffen- 
sive nations. 

*  *  The  United  States  might  have  blundered  into 
the  war  at  any  time  during  the  past  two  years, 
but  to  have  entered,  as  it  is  now  doing,  at  the 
right  time  and  in  the  clear  interest  of  a  purely 
international  programme  required  the  exercise  of 
an  intellectualised  and  imaginative  leadership. 
And  in  supplying  the  country  with  this  leadership 
Mr.  Wilson  was  interpreting  the  ideas  of  thought- 
ful Americans  who  wished  their  country  to  be 
fighting  on  the  side  of  international  right,  but  not 
until  the  righteousness  of  the  Allied  cause  was 
unequivocally  established.  It  has  taken  some  time 
to  reach  this  assurance.  The  war  originated  in 
conflicting  national  ambitions  among  European 
Powers  for  privileged  economic  and  political  po- 
sitions in  Africa  and  Asia,  and  if  it  had  continued 
to  be  a  war  of  this  kind  there  never  could  have 
been  a  question  of  American  intervention.  Ger- 
many, however,  had  been  dreaming  of  a  more 
glorious  goal  than  Bagdad  and  a  mightier  heri- 
tage than  that  of  Turkey.  She  betrayed  her 
dream  by  attacking  France  through  Belgium  and 
by  threatening  the  foundations  of  European  or- 
der. The  crucifying  of  Belgium  established  a 
strong  presumption  against  Germany,  but  the 
case  was  not  complete.  There  still  remained  the 
dubious  origin  of  the  war.  There  still  remained 
a  doubt  whether  the  defeat  of  German  militarism 
might  not  mean  a  dangerous  triumph  of  Russian 


278     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

autocracy.  Above  all  there  remained  a  more  seri- 
ous doubt  whether  the  United  States  in  aiding  the 
Allies  to  beat  Germany  might  not  be  contributing 
merely  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  and  equally 
unstable  and  demoralising  Balance  of  Power  in 
Europe.  It  was  well,  consequently,  to  wait  and 
see  whether  the  development  of  the  war  would 
not  do  away  with  some  of  the  ambiguities  and 
misgivings,  while  at  the  same  time  to  avoid  doing 
anything  to  embarrass  the  Allies.  The  waiting 
policy  has  served.  Germany  was  driven  by  the 
logic  of  her  original  aggression  to  threaten  the 
security  of  all  neutrals  connected  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  by  maritime  communications.  The  Rus- 
sian autocracy  was  overthrown,  because  it  be- 
trayed its  furtive  kinship  with  the  German  au- 
tocracy. Finally,  President  Wilson  used  the  wait- 
ing period  for  the  education  of  American  public 
opinion.  His  campaign  speeches  prophesied  the 
abandonment  of  American  isolation  in  the  interest 
of  a  League  of  Peace.  His  note  of  last  December 
to  the  belligerents  brought  out  the  sinister  secrecy 
of  German  peace  terms  and  the  comparative 
frankness  of  that  of  the  Allies.  His  address  to 
the  Senate  clearly  enunciated  the  only  programme 
on  behalf  of  which  America  could  intervene  in 
European  affairs.  Never  was  there  a  purer  and 
more  successful  example  of  Fabian  political 
strategy,  for  Fabianism  consists  not  merely  in 
waiting  but  in  preparing  during  the  meantime 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  279 

for  the  successful  application  of  a  plan  to  a  con- 
fused and  dangerous  situation. 

"What  Mr.  Wilson  did  was  to  apply  patience 
and  brains  to  a  complicated  and  difficult  but  de- 
veloping political  situation.  He  was  distinguished 
from  his  morally  indignant  pro- Allies  fellow  coun- 
trymen, who  a  few  months  ago  were  abusing  him 
for  seeking  to  make  a  specifically  American  con- 
tribution to  the  issues  of  the  war,  just  as  Lincoln 
was  distinguished  from  the  abolitionists,  not  so 
much  by  difference  in  purposes  as  by  greater  po- 
litical wisdom  and  intelligence.  It  is  because  of 
his  Fabianism,  because  he  insisted  upon  waiting 
until  he  had  established  a  clear  connection  be- 
tween American  intervention  and  an  attempt  to 
create  a  community  of  nations,  that  he  can  com- 
mand and  secure  for  American  intervention  the 
full  allegiance  of  the  American  national  con- 
science. His  achievement  is  a  great  personal  tri- 
umph, but  it  is  more  than  that.  It  is  an  illustra- 
tion and  a  prophecy  of  the  part  which  intelligence 
and  in  general  the  ' intellectual'  class  have  an  op- 
portunity of  playing  in  shaping  American  policy 
and  in  moulding  American  life.  The  intimate 
association  between  action  and  ideas,  character- 
istic of  American  political  practice  at  its  best,  has 
been  vindicated  once  more.  The  association  was 
started  at  the  foundation  of  the  Republic  and  was 
embodied  in  the  work  of  the  Fathers,  but  particu- 
larly in  that  of  Hamilton.  It  was  carried  on  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  embodied 


280     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

chiefly  in  the  patient  and  penetrating  intelligence 
which  Abraham  Lincoln  brought  to  his  task.  It 
has  just  been  established  in  the  region  of  foreign 
policy  by  Mr.  Wilson's  discriminating  effort  to 
keep  the  United  States  out  of  the  war  until  it 
could  go  in  as  the  instrument  of  an  exclusively 
international  programme  and  with  a  fair  prospect 
of  getting  its  programme  accepted.  In  holding 
to  this  policy  Mr.  Wilson  was  interpreting  with 
fidelity  and  imagination  the  ideas  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  more  thoughtful  Americans.  His 
success  should  give  them  increasing  confidence  in 
the  contribution  which  they  as  men  of  intelligence 
are  capable  of  making  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  bet- 
ter American  national  purposes." 

During  1915  and  1916  our  diplomatic  relations 
with  Germany  have  been  expressed  in  one  series 
of  notes  after  another,  and  the  burden  of  affairs 
has  been  as  much  on  the  shoulders  of  Ambassador 
Gerard  as  on  those  of  any  other  one  American, 
for  he  has  been  the  official  who  has  had  to  trans- 
mit, interpret  and  fight  for  our  policies  in  Berlin. 
Mr.  Gerard  had  a  difficult  task  because  he,  like 
President  Wilson,  was  constantly  heckled  and 
ridiculed  by  those  pro-German  Americans  who 
were  more  interested  in  discrediting  the  Admin- 
istration than  in  maintaining  peace.  Of  all  the 
problems  with  which  the  Ambassador  had  to  con- 
tend, the  German-American  issue  was  the  great- 
est, and  those  who  believed  that  it  was  centred 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  281 

in  the  United  States  are  mistaken,  for  the  capital 
of  German-America  was  Berlin. 

"I  have  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in  Germany 
from  the  American  correspondents  when  they 
went  there,"  said  Ambassador  Gerard  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  American  Newspapers  Publishers  As- 
sociation in  New  York  on  April  26th. 

"Most  of  them  became  super- Ambassadors  and 
proceeded  to  inform  the  German  Government  that 
they  must  not  believe  me — that  they  must  not  be- 
lieve the  President — they  must  not  believe  the 
American  people — but  believe  these  people,  and 
to  a  great  extent  this  war  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
these  pro-German  Americans,  a  certain  number 
of  them,  misinformed  the  German  Government  as 
to  the  sentiments  of  this  country." 

James  W.  Gerard's  diplomatic  career  in  Ger- 
many was  based  upon  bluntness,  frankness  and  a 
kind  of  "news  instinct"  which  caused  him  to  re- 
gard his  position  as  that  of  a  reporter  for  the 
United  States  Government. 

Berlin  thought  him  the  most  unusual  Ambassa- 
dor it  had  ever  known.  It  never  knew  how  to 
take  him.  He  did  not  behave  as  other  diplomats 
did.  When  he  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  it  was 
always  on  business.  He  did  not  flatter  and  praise, 
bow  and  chat  or  speak  to  Excellencies  in  the  third 
person  as  European  representatives  usually  do. 
Gerard  began  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  a  pol- 
icy of  keeping  the  United  States  fully  informed 


282     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

regarding  Germany.  He  used  to  report  daily  the 
political  developments  and  the  press  comment,  and 
the  keen  understanding  which  he  had  of  German 
methods  was  proved  by  his  many  forecasts  of 
important  developments.  Last  September  he  pre- 
dicted, in  a  message  to  the  State  Department, 
ruthless  submarine  warfare  before  Spring  unless 
peace  was  made.  He  notified  Washington  last 
October  to  watch  for  German  intrigue  in  Mexico 
and  said  that  unless  we  solved  the  problem  there 
we  might  have  trouble  throughout  the  war  from 
Germans  south  of  the  Eio  Grande. 

During  the  submarine  controversies,  when  re- 
ports reached  Berlin  that  the  United  States  was 
divided  and  would  not  support  President  Wilson 
in  his  submarine  policy,  Ambassador  Gerard  did 
everything  he  could  to  give  the  opposite  impres- 
sion. He  tried  his  best  to  keep  Germany  from 
driving  the  United  States  into  the  war.  That  he 
did  not  succeed  was  not  the  fault  of  his  efforts. 
Germany  was  desperate  and  willing  to  disregard 
all  nations  and  all  international  obligations  in  an 
attempt  to  win  the  war  with  U-boats. 

Last  Summer,  during  one  of  the  crises  over  the 
sinking  of  a  passenger  liner  without  warning,  Mr. 
Gerard  asked  the  Chancellor  for  an  audience  with 
the  Kaiser.  Von  Bethmann-Hollweg  said  he 
would  see  if  it  could  be  arranged.  The  Ambassa- 
dor waited  two  weeks.  Nothing  was  done.  From 
his  friends  in  Berlin  he  learned  that  the  Navy 
was  opposed  to  such  a  conference  and  would  not 


AMBASSADOR  GERARD  ARRIVING  IN  PARIS.  AMBASSADOR 
SHARP  AT  THE  LEFT.  MR.  GERARD  IS  CARRYING  A  BAG 
OF  GOLD  WHICH  HE  TOOK  TO  GERMANY  IN  DECEMBER, 
I9l6.  HE  BROUGHT  EVERY  DOLLAR  (ABOUT  $2S,OOO) 
BACK  TO  WASHINGTON 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  283 

give  its  consent.  Mr.  Gerard  went  to  Herr  von 
Jagow  who  was  then  Secretary  of  State  and  again 
asked  for  an  audience.  He  waited  another  week. 
Nothing  happened  and  Mr.  Gerard  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing note  to  the  Chancellor : 

"Your  Excellency, 

"Three  weeks  ago  I  asked  for  an  audience  with 
His  Majesty  the  Kaiser. 

"A  week  ago  I  repeated. the  request. 
"Please  do  not  trouble  yourself  further. 

1 '  Respectfully, 

"JAMES  W.  GERARD." 

The  Ambassador  called  the  Embassy  messenger 
and  sent  the  note  to  the  Chancellor's  palace. 
Three  hours  later  he  was  told  that  von  Bethmann- 
Hollweg  had  gone  to  Great  Headquarters  to  ar- 
range for  the  meeting. 

Sometimes  in  dealing  with  the  Foreign  Office 
the  Ambassador  used  the  same  rough-shod  meth- 
ods which  made  the  Big  Stick  effective  during 
the  Roosevelt  Administration.  At  one  time,  Alex- 
ander Cochran,  of  New  York,  acted  as  special 
courier  from  the  Embassy  in  London  to  Berlin. 
At  the  frontier  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned. 
The  Ambassador  heard  of  it,  went  to  the  Foreign 
Office  and  demanded  Cochran 's  immediate  re- 
lease. The  Ambassador  had  obtained  Mr.  Coch- 
ran's  passports,  and  showed  them  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  State.  When  Herr  von  Jagow  asked  per- 


284     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

mission  to  retain  one  of  the  passports  so  the  mat- 
ter could  be  investigated,  the  Ambassador  said: 

"  All  right,  but  first  let  me  tear  Lansing's  signa- 
ture off  the  bottom,  or  some  one  may  use  the  pass- 
port for  other  purposes." 

The  Ambassador  was  not  willing  to  take 
chances  after  it  was  learned  and  proved  by  the 
State  Department  that  Germany  was  using  Amer- 
ican passports  for  spy  purposes. 

In  one  day  alone,  last  fall,  the  American  Em- 
bassy sent  92  notes  to  the  Foreign  Office,  some 
authorised  by  Washington  and  some  unauthor- 
ised, protesting  against  unlawful  treatment  of 
Americans,  asking  for  reforms  in  prison  camps, 
transmitting  money  and  letters  about  German  af- 
fairs in  Entente  countries,  and  other  matters 
which  were  under  discussion  between  Berlin  and 
Washington.  At  one  time  an  American  woman 
instructor  in  Roberts'  College  was  arrested  at 
Warnemuende  and  kept  for  weeks  from  communi- 
cating with  the  Ambassador.  When  he  heard  of 
it  he  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  daily,  demanding 
her  release,  which  he  finally  secured. 

Mr.  Gerard's  work  in  bettering  conditions  in 
prison  camps,  especially  at  Ruhleben,  will  be  long 
remembered.  When  conditions  were  at  their 
worst  he  went  out  daily  to  keep  himself  informed, 
and  then  daily  went  to  the  Foreign  Office  or  wrote 
to  the  Ministry  of  War  in  an  effort  to  get  better 
accommodations  for  the  men.  One  day  he  discov- 
ered eleven  prominent  English  civilians,  former 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  285 

respected  residents  in  Berlin,  living  in  a  box  stall 
similar  to  one  which,  his  riding  horse  had  occu- 
pied in  peace  times.  This  so  aroused  the  Am- 
bassador that  he  volunteered  to  furnish  funds  for 
the  construction  of  a  new  barracks  in  case  the 
Government  was  not  willing  to  do  it.  But  the 
Foreign  Office  and  the  War  Ministry  and  other 
officials  shifted  authority  so  often  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  get  changes  made.  The  Ambassador 
decided  to  have  his  reports  published  in  a  drastic 
effort  to  gain  relief  for  the  prisoners.  The  State 
Department  granted  the  necessary  authority  and 
his  descriptions  of  Ruhleben  were  published  in 
the  United  States  and  England,  arousing  such  a 
world-wide  storm  of  indignation  that  the  German 
Government  changed  the  prison  conditions  and 
made  Ruhleben  fit  for  men  for  the  first  time  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war. 

This  activity  of  the  Ambassador  aroused  a 
great  deal  of  bitterness  and  the  Government  de- 
cided to  try  to  have  him  recalled.  The  press  cen- 
sorship instigated  various  newspapers  to  attack 
the  Ambassador  so  that  Germany  might  be  justi- 
fied in  asking  for  his  recall,  but  the  attack  failed 
for  the  simple  reason  that  there  was  no  evidence 
against  the  Ambassador  except  that  he  had  been 
too  vigorous  in  insisting  upon  livable  prison  camp 
conditions. 

I  have  pointed  out  in  previous  chapters  some 
of  the  things  which  President  Wilson's  notes  ac- 


286     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

complislied  in  Germany  during  the  war.  Suppose 
the  Kaiser  were  to  grant  certain  reforms,  would 
this  destroy  the  possibilities  of  a  free  Germany, 
a  democratic  nation — a  German  Republic? 

The  German  people  were  given  an  opportunity 
to  debate  and  think  about  international  issues 
while  we  maintained  relations  with  Berlin,  but  as 
I  pointed  out,  the  Kaiser  and  his  associates  are 
masters  of  German  psychology  and  during  the 
next  few  months  they  may  temporarily  undo  what 
we  accomplished  during  two  years.  Americans 
must  remember  that  at  the  present  time  all  the 
leading  men  of  Germany  are  preaching  to  the 
people  the  gospel  of  submarine  success,  and  the 
anti- American  campaign  there  is  being  conducted 
unhindered  and  unchallenged.  The  United  States 
and  the  Allies  have  pledged  their  national  honour 
and  existence  to  defeat  and  discredit  the  Imperial 
German  Government  and  nothing  but  unfaltering 
determination,  no  matter  what  the  Kaiser  does, 
will  bring  success.  Unless  he  is  defeated,  the 
Kaiser  will  not  follow  the  Czar's  example. 

In  May  of  this  year  the  German  Government 
believed  it  was  winning  the  war.  Berlin  believed 
it  would  decisively  defeat  our  Allies  before  Fall. 
But  even  if  the  people  of  Germany  again  compel 
their  Government  to  propose  peace  and  the  Kaiser 
announces  that  he  is  in  favour  of  such  drastic 
reforms  as  making  his  Ministry  responsible  to 
the  Reichstag,  this  (though  it  might  please  the 
German  people)  cannot,  must  not,  satisfy  us.  Only 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  287 

a  firm  refusal  of  the  Allies  will  accomplish  what 
we  have  set  out  to  do — overthrow  the  present 
rulers  and  dictators  of  Germany.  This  must 
include  not  only  the  Kaiser  but  Field  Marshal 
von  Hindenburg  and  the  generals  in  control  of 
the  army,  the  Chancellor  von  Bethmann-Hollweg, 
who  did  not  keep  his  promises  to  the  United 
States  and  the  naval  leaders  who  have  been  in- 
triguing and  fighting  for  war  with  America  for 
over  two  years.  Only  a  decisive  defeat  of  Ger- 
many will  make  Germany  a  republic,  and  the  task 
is  stupendous  enough  to  challenge  the  best  com- 
bined efforts  of  the  United  States  and  all  the 
Allies. 

Prophecy  is  a  dangerous  pastime  but  it  would 
not  be  fair  to  conclude  this  book  without  pointing 
out  some  of  the  possibilities  which  can  develop 
from  the  policy  which  President  Wilson  pursued 
in  dealing  with  Germany  before  diplomatic  rela- 
tions were  broken. 

The  chief  effect  of  Mr.  Wilson's  policy  is  not 
going  to  be  felt  during  this  war,  but  in  the  future. 
At  the  beginning  of  his  administration  he  empha- 
sised the  fact  that  in  a  democracy  public  opinion 
was  a  bigger  factor  than  armies  and  navies.  If  all 
Europe  emerges  from  this  war  as  democratic  as 
seems  possible  now  one  can  see  that  Mr.  Wilson 
has  already  laid  the  foundation  for  future  inter- 
national relations  between  free  people  and  repub- 
lican forms  of  governments.  This  war  has  de- 
feated itself.  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  ever 


288    GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

will  be  another  world  war  because  the  opinion  of 
all  civilised  people  is  mobilised  against  war. 
After  one  has  seen  what  war  is  like,  one  is  against 
not  only  war  itself  but  the  things  which  bring 
about  war.  This  great  war  was  made  possible 
because  Europe  has  been  expecting  and  preparing 
for  it  ever  since  1870  and  because  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe  did  not  take  either  the  people  or 
their  neighbours  into  their  confidence.  President 
Wilson  tried  to  show  while  he  was  president  that 
the  people  should  be  fully  informed  regarding  all 
steps  taken  by  the  Government.  In  England 
where  the  press  has  had  such  a  tussle  to  keep 
from  being  curbed  by  an  autocratic  censorship 
the  world  has  learned  new  lessons  in  publicity. 
The  old  policy  of  keeping  from  the  public  un- 
pleasant information  has  been  thrown  overboard 
in  Great  Britain  because  it  was  found  that  it 
harmed  the  very  foundations  of  democracy. 

International  relations  in  the  future  will,  to  a 
great  extent,  be  moulded  along  the  lines  of  Mr. 
Wilson's  policies  during  this  war.  Diplomacy 
will  be  based  upon  a  full  discussion  of  all  inter- 
national issues.  The  object  of  diplomacy  will  be 
to  reach  an  understanding  to  prevent  wars,  not 
to  avoid  them  at  the  eleventh  hour.  Just  as  en- 
lightened society  tries  to  prevent  murder  so  will 
civilised  nations  in  the  future  try  to  prevent  wars. 

Mr.  Wilson  expressed  his  faith  in  this  new  de- 
velopment in  international  affairs  by  saying  that 


A    POST-CARD    FROM   GEXERAL   VOX    KLUCK 


PRESIDENT  WILSON  289 

"the  opinion  of  the  world  is  the  mistress  of  the 
world." 

The  important  concern  to-day  is :  How  can  this 
world  opinion  be  moulded  into  a  world  power! 

Opinion  cannot  be  codified  like  law  because  it 
is  often  the  vanguard  of  legislation.  Public  opin- 
ion is  the  reaction  of  a  thousand  and  one  inci- 
dents upon  the  public  consciousness.  In  the  world 
to-day  the  most  important  influence  in  the  devel- 
opment of  opinion  is  the  daily  press.  By  a  ju- 
dicious interpretation  of  affairs  the  President  of 
the  United  States  frequently  may  direct  public 
opinion  in  certain  channels  while  his  representa- 
tives to  foreign  governments,  especially  when 
there  is  opportunity,  as  there  is  to-day,  may  help 
spread  our  ideas  abroad. 

World  political  leaders,  if  one  may  judge  from 
events  so  far,  foresee  a  new  era  in  international 
affairs.  Instead  of  a  nation's  foreign  policies 
being  secret,  instead  of  unpublished  alliances  and 
iron-bound  treaties,  there  may  be  the  proclaiming 
of  a  nation's  international  intentions,  exactly  as 
a  political  party  in  the  United  States  pledges  its 
intentions  in  a  political  campaign.  Parties  in 
Europe  may  demand  a  statement  of  the  foreign 
intentions  of  their  governments.  If  there  was 
this  candidness  between  the  governments  and 
their  citizens  there  would  be  more  frankness  be- 
tween the  nations  and  their  neighbours.  Public 
opinion  would  then  be  the  decisive  force.  Inter- 
national steps  of  all  nations  would  then  be  de- 


290     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

cided  upon  only  after  the  public  was  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  their  every  phase.  A  fully  in- 
formed nation  would  be  considered  safer  and 
more  peace-secure  than  a  nation  whose  opinion 
was  based  upon  coloured  official  reports,  "Ems" 
telegrams  of  1870  and  1914  variety,  and  eleventh- 
hour  appeals  to  passion,  fear  and  God. 

The  opinion  of  the  world  may  then  be  a  stronger 
international  force  than  large  individual  armies 
and  navies.  The  opinion  of  the  world  may  be 
such  a  force  that  every  nation  will  respect  and 
fear  it.  The  opinion  of  the  world  may  be  the 
mistress  of  the  world  and  publicity  will  be  the 
new  driving  force  in  diplomacy  to  give  opinion 
world  power. 

Germany's  defeat  will  be  the  greatest  event  in 
history  because  it  will  establish  world  democracy 
upon  a  firm  foundation  and  because  Germany  it- 
self will  emerge  democratic.  The  Chancellor  has 
frequently  stated  that  the  Germany  which  would 
come  out  of  this  war  would  be  nothing  like  the 
Germany  which  went  into  the  war  and  the  Kaiser 
has  already  promised  a  "people's  kingdom  of 
Hohenzollern. "  The  Kaiser's  government  will 
be  reformed  because  world  opinion  insists  upon 
it.  If  the  German  people  do  not  yet  see  this,  they 
will  be  outlawed  until  they  are  free.  They  will 
see  it  eventually,  and  when  that  day  comes,  peace 
will  dawn  in  Europe. 


APPENDIX 

Cornell  University, 

Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
DEAE  SIR: 

Returning  to  Ithaca,  I  find  your  letter  with  its 
question  relating  to  the  temporary  arrest  of  a 
vessel  carrying  munitions  of  war  to  Spain  shortly 
after  the  beginning  of  our  war  with  that  country. 
The  simple  facts  are  as  follows:  Receiving  a 
message  by  wire  from  our  American  Consul  at 
Hamburg  early  during  the  war,  to  the  effect  that 
a  Spanish  vessel  supposed  to  carry  munitions  for 
Spain  was  just  leaving  Germany,  I  asked  the 
Foreign  Office  that  the  vessel  be  searched  before 
leaving,  my  purpose  being  not  only  to  get  such 
incidental  information  as  possible  regarding  the 
contraband  concerned,  but  particulars  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  vessel,  whether  it  was  so  fitted  that 
it  could  be  used  with  advantage  by  our  adver- 
saries against  our  merchant  navy,  as  had  hap- 
pened during  our  Civil  War,  when  Great  Britain 
let  out  of  her  ports  vessels  fitted  to  prey  upon  our 
merchant  ships. 

The  German  Government  was  very  courteous  to 
us  in  the  matter  and  it  was  found  that  the  Spanish 
ship  concerned  was  not  so  fitted  up  and  that  the 

291 


292     GERMANY,  THE  NEXT  REPUBLIC? 

contraband  was  of  a  very  ordinary  sort,  such  as 
could  be  obtained  from  various  nations.  The  re- 
sult was  that  the  vessel,  after  a  brief  visit,  pro- 
ceeded on  her  way,  and  our  agents  at  Hamburg 
informed  me  later  that  during  the  entire  war  ves- 
sels freely  carried  ammunition  from  German 
ports  both  to  Spain  and  to  the  United  States,  and 
that  neither  of  the  belligerents  made  any  remon- 
strance. Of  course,  I  was  aware  that  under  the 
usages  of  nations  I  had,  strictly  speaking,  no  right 
to  demand  seizure  of  the  contraband  concerned, 
but  it  seemed  my  duty  at  least  to  secure  the  above 
information  regarding  it  and  the  ship  which  car- 
ried it. 

I  remain,  dear  sir, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)  ANDREW  D.  WHITE. 


RatfoEjn*.  STi 


GAYLORD 


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